Generated files contain a timestamp that is more harmful than helpful

[jphorv-bdo]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Yes - the problem is that the file(s) generated include a comment showing the Generation date as a date/time. This makes it difficult to see what files have really changed when re-running/updating the connected service, because all files get changed at least to have an updated Generation date.

Describe the solution you'd like

I would like it to either:

• a) not write the Generation date comment at all
• b) have an option to disable writing the Generation date comment

Describe alternatives you've considered

None.

Additional context

Here are the top few lines of a generated file that show the Generation date comment:

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// <auto-generated>
//     This code was generated by a tool.
//     Runtime Version:4.0.30319.42000
//
//     Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if
//     the code is regenerated.
// </auto-generated>
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

// Generation date: 2/14/2024 5:49:22 PM
namespace MyServiceNamespace.Entities
{

[gregwinterstein]

This issue resolved by this pull request:

362

Runtime Version changes also add to source control churn and that has not yet been addressed.

[jphorv-bdo]

That's great! How long until a new release is made?

[gregwinterstein]

@jphorv-bdo I'm sorry, I don't know when the next release will be made. That is a question for the owners/maintainers of this project.

[habbes]

Thanks @gregwinterstein @jphorv-bdo you're right in that we're long overdue for a release. We'll have the next release next week latest or by end of this week earliest.

[habbes]

As for removing the runtime version, that makes sense as well @jphorv-bdo, it could be the subject of a separate PR.

[habbes]

@gregwinterstein @jphorv-bdo We'll create a single flag that will disable both the runtime version and timestamp options from being emitted. This means we'll also rename the previously merged no-timestamp flag to something more generic.

cc @gathogojr