In this post we enable host tracing and use that to understand how a .NET app boots up via the dotnet muxer, hostfxr, and hostpolicy.dll

Andrew Lock's blog focuses on ASP.NET Core development, web APIs, and software architecture. Readers can find tutorials, code samples, and explanations covering topics such as RESTful API design, authentication, and authorization in ASP.NET Core. Additionally, they can learn about dependency injection, middleware, and performance optimization techniques.

.NET Escapades

Explores how .NET applications boot by enabling host tracing diagnostics. Walks through the complete startup chain: the dotnet muxer locates and loads hostfxr, which finds the correct runtime version and loads hostpolicy.dll, which finally builds the Trusted Platform Assemblies list and launches the CoreCLR runtime. Shows how to enable tracing with COREHOST_TRACE=1 and interpret the detailed logs to debug runtime loading issues.

Exploring the .NET boot process via host tracing

Understanding the boot process with tracing