Don't include dependencies from packages.config file when creating NuGet package

Question

I am using Nuget to create packages. I would like to create a package which does not contain any dependencies (in the .nuspec) file to any other NuGet packages. My project does have NuGet package dependencies defined in its packages.config file.

First I create the .nuspec file...

C:\code\MySolution>.nuget\nuget.exe spec MyProject\MyProject.csproj

I edit the generated .nuspec file to be minimal, with no dependencies.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package >
  <metadata>
    <id>MyProject</id>
    <version>1.2.3</version>
    <title>MyProject</title>
    <authors>Example</authors>
    <owners>Example</owners>
    <requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
    <description>Example</description>
    <copyright>Copyright 2013 Example</copyright>
    <tags>example</tags>
    <dependencies />
  </metadata>
</package>

Then I build the solution and create a NuGet package...

C:\code\MySolution>.nuget\nuget.exe pack MyProject\MyProject.csproj -Verbosity detailed

Here is the output of that command...

Attempting to build package from 'MyProject.csproj'.
Packing files from 'C:\code\MySolution\MyProject\bin\Debug'.
Using 'MyProject.nuspec' for metadata.
Found packages.config. Using packages listed as dependencies

Id: MyProject
Version: 1.2.3
Authors: Example
Description: Example
Tags: example
Dependencies: Google.ProtocolBuffers (= 2.4.1.473)

Added file 'lib\net40\MyProject.dll'.

Successfully created package 'C:\code\MySolution\MyProject.1.2.3.nupkg'.

The .nupkg package that is created has a .nuspec file contained within it but it includes a dependencies section which I did not have in the original .nuspec file...

<dependencies>
  <dependency id="Google.ProtocolBuffers" version="2.4.1.473" />
</dependencies>

I believe this is happening because of this... (from the output above)

Found packages.config. Using packages listed as dependencies

How can I make NuGet not automatically resolve dependencies and insert them into the .nuspec file which is generated from the pack command?

I am using NuGet 2.2 currently. Also, I don't think that this behaviour happened in older version of NuGet; is this a new "feature"? I couldn't find any documentation describing this "feature" or when it was implemented.

Answer 1

In version 2.7 there is an option called developmentDependency that can be set into package.config to avoid including dependency.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
    <package id="jQuery" version="1.5.2" />
    <package id="netfx-Guard" version="1.3.3.2" developmentDependency="true" />
    <package id="microsoft-web-helpers" version="1.15" />
</packages>