System.Data.SqlClient is missing NuGet package README file

[mckennabarlow]

As one of the top most installed NuGet packages, your System.Data.SqlClient package is extremely important to the developer ecosystem. The NuGet team has noticed that your package on NuGet.org is missing a README file. Please take a moment to add a README file to your package repository.

Our customer research indicates that one of the top problems that package consumers face is insufficient package documentation such as README files. Adding a README file to your package will help users quickly understand what the package is and what it does. Since your README will be the first impression for users when they view your package on NuGet.org, it is crucial for authors to write and include high-quality READMEs for their packages.

There is no specific format or structure to a good README – instead it’s about effectively communicating the purpose and functionality of your package to potential users. If you are unsure of where to start, check out our blog post for some README best practices and a template file.
If you are new to NuGet README, learn more about how to add a README to your NuGet Package.

Your feedback is very important to us. If you experience any issue using READMEs or have ideas for improvements – please feel free to contact us by replying to this issue

[ghost]

Tagging subscribers to this area: @DavoudEshtehari, @David-Engel, @JRahnama
See info in area-owners.md if you want to be subscribed.

Issue Details

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As one of the top most installed NuGet packages, your System.Data.SqlClient package is extremely important to the developer ecosystem. The NuGet team has noticed that your package on NuGet.org is missing a README file. Please take a moment to add a README file to your package repository.

Our customer research indicates that one of the top problems that package consumers face is insufficient package documentation such as README files. Adding a README file to your package will help users quickly understand what the package is and what it does. Since your README will be the first impression for users when they view your package on NuGet.org, it is crucial for authors to write and include high-quality READMEs for their packages.

There is no specific format or structure to a good README – instead it’s about effectively communicating the purpose and functionality of your package to potential users. If you are unsure of where to start, check out our blog post for some README best practices and a template file.
If you are new to NuGet README, learn more about how to add a README to your NuGet Package.

Your feedback is very important to us. If you experience any issue using READMEs or have ideas for improvements – please feel free to contact us by replying to this issue

Author:	mckennabarlow
Assignees:	-
Labels:	area-System.Data.SqlClient, untriaged, needs-area-label
Milestone:	-

[filipnavara]

cc @ericstj @ViktorHofer Not sure what's the correct area for this issue. The package is effectively replaced by Microsoft.Data.SqlClient and I am not sure what's the official support status for the old System.Data.SqlClient one.

[ericstj]

Readme's can be added without updating the package. The content can be added manually via
https://www.nuget.org/packages/System.Data.SqlClient/4.8.5/Manage

@dotnet/sqlclientdevteam if you wanted to provide a readme for the old SqlClient package we can help you make the change in Nuget.org. The same change could be made to the package in the old servicing branches - should it ever need to be built again.

[JonDouglas]

@ericstj That might be referring to the old "readme.txt" experience. For the new README.md experience, the readme is included with the package itself. If a package cannot be updated/built we should just ignore them for now.

The primary case here is to provide consumers with enough information to get started with these packages. Here is an example:

https://www.nuget.org/profiles/dotnetframework

Take System.Buffers for example:

(no readme is rendered as only a description is today)

vs.

In an upcoming Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code release, we will be showing READMEs in the NuGet package manager UI experience and thus would love to help developers get started with some of the most popular packages. Also given the visibility of .NET packages, this sets a positive example on the entire ecosystem to add READMEs organically (many OSS projects already do this today).

One goal for .NET 8 would be to rally around the most used and "active" packages to get READMEs included. If someone can help our team & the .NET release team with an inventory of what packages may be good candidates for READMEs, we can start to piece-meal some READMEs for them or get some documentation team help to do so.

i.e. Each consumer-friendly package could supplement README information from the respective official docs:

i.e. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/io/buffers

[ericstj]

If a package cannot be updated/built we should just ignore them for now.

Are you saying that if we make changes in https://www.nuget.org/packages/System.Data.SqlClient/4.8.5/Manage to update the readme and discourage use of old packages that NuGet wouldn't present those changes to the user?