The objective of PostSharp 4.3 is to address the most important concerns of current PostSharp customers. We focused on improving the existing features without adding brand new ones.
Improved build-time performance
We understand that nobody likes to wait for the build to complete, so we've been working hard to optimize PostSharp's build performance. PostSharp 4.3 is up to 1.5 times faster than PostSharp 4.2 (the improvement is especially visible in large projects) and you don't need to change anything in your code.
But there's more. PostSharp 4.3 introduces a new feature called solution-wide build optimizations, which can double the build speed in large solutions. Since this feature can break custom build-time logic, it is disabled by default. (This feature has been deprecated.)
Improved debugging experience
Debugging an application enhanced with aspects is now even easier thanks to the following improvements:
Full support for Just My Code.
During Step Into, aspect code is now stepped over by default.
The call stack no longer contains PostSharp implementation details by default.
To learn more about the new debugging behaviors and how to disable them, see Debugging Run-Time Logic.
More flexible deployment
PostSharp 4.3 brings more freedom when it comes to deployment and installation:
Alternative to NuGet. Between versions 3.0 and 4.2, the PostSharp compiler and libraries were only distributed as NuGet packages. Starting from version 4.3, we are re-introducing the old good zip file, and integrate it better with PostSharp Tools for Visual Studio. See Installing PostSharp without NuGet (Deprecated) for details.
Command Line Tool. Using PostSharp as a command-line tool is now a supported and documented scenario. This feature has been discontinued in PostSharp 5.0.
PostSharp Tools for Visual Studio no longer required. You will now be able to build a project that uses PostSharp without having PostSharp Tools installed in Visual Studio. The tooling is still highly recommended but no longer strictly required.
Improvements in the NotifyPropertyChanged aspect
PostSharp 4.3 brings two improvements to the NotifyPropertyChangedAttribute aspect:
Support for Caliburn.Micro and MVVM Light. See Integrating the NotifyPropertyChanged Aspect with UI Frameworks.
Option to avoid false positives. See Suppressing False Positives of the NotifyPropertyChanged Aspect for details.
Simplified licensing of PostSharp Express
The limitations of PostSharp Express, the free edition of PostSharp, are now clearer and easier to understand and remember. For details, see PostSharp Essentials.
Source code sharing with non-licensed teams
You no longer need a PostSharp license to build code that someone else wrote and uses PostSharp. A license is only required for code that you build or edited yourself. See Sharing Source Code With Unlicensed Teams for details.
Automatic computing of build-time assembly binding redirections
It is no longer necessary to manually create an assembly binding redirection file for PostSharp. For details, see Resolution of Assembly Binding Redirections.