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Debian CLI Policy (DRAFT)
Chapter 2 - Used Terms

The ".NET" area uses its own set of abbreviations, which can look confusing to other people. This chapter lists some of the terms along with their explanations:

2.1 CLI - Common Language Infrastructure

This is what most people mean when they say ".NET". The CLI defines mainly the virtual machine, the bytecode and how everything works together. It is both an ISO and ECMA standard.

2.2 CLR - Common Language Runtime

The CLR is an implementation of the CLI (often with a lot of add-ons or tools for developers). Mono and Microsoft .NET Framework are CLRs.

2.3 CIL - Common Intermediate Language

The CIL is the format of the bytecode for binaries and libraries used by the CLI.

2.4 ".NET" or long "Microsoft .NET Framework"

The ".NET" word is a Microsoft marketing phrase and mostly is a CLR with added Microsoft technologies like: ASP.NET, VB.NET, System.Windows.Forms, Passport plus a lot of other things.

We highly discourage from using any form of the word ".NET", it is burdened by copyright and marketing. We advice to use the correct term instead, which is usually CLI.

If you really want to use the ".NET" term in a correct form please refer to the Microsoft .NET Guidelines.

2.5 GAC - Global Assembly Cache

The GAC contains and manages the libraries for the CLR. It allows users to install multiple versions of the same library and enables loading of the right version when an application is executed.

Mono stores the GAC at /usr/lib/mono/gac

Portable.NET stores the GAC at /usr/lib/cscc/lib