Dynamics Community Forum Thread Details

Dependency Version Handling and Deprecated Code Replacement in Business Central Wave Update

Hi all,

We are currently preparing our extensions for the latest Business Central Wave Update and are in the process of removing deprecated objects and replacing them with the latest recommended implementations.

We have a question regarding dependency version management in our AL extensions.

In our app.json, some dependencies are currently defined with a general version such as 1.0.0.0, and we use this to download and build against the latest available version of the dependent extensions. However, Microsoft documentation and some examples reference exact versions such as 1.0.0.53.

Our concerns are:

Is it mandatory to update dependency version numbers to the exact published version (for example 1.0.0.53), or is it acceptable to keep a base version like 1.0.0.0 and always pull the latest package?
Could using a non-exact dependency version cause issues during deployment or runtime, especially when multiple dependent extensions are involved?
For environments with many interdependent extensions, is it considered best practice to validate and align all dependency versions before every deployment?
Since sandbox environments are typically copied from production, should dependency versions and extension packages be kept strictly identical between sandbox and production to avoid compatibility issues?

We want to follow the recommended best practices for dependency versioning and upgrade safety during Wave Updates. Any guidance from experienced AL developers would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Nimsara Jayathilaka

Categories:

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Dynamics 365 Business Central migration

Hello Nimsara Jayathilaka,

You don’t need to pin dependencies to an exact build like 1.0.0.53 because in app.json the version you specify is a minimum version, and at compile/runtime Business Central resolves the latest installed version that is ≥ that minimum; however, keeping it too generic (for example 1.0.0.0) can cause inconsistencies if production has an older dependency installed, since dependency apps are only upgraded automatically when your app requires a higher minimum version, so best practice is to set the dependency version to the minimum version you have actually validated and rely on, increase it when you depend on new behavior or fixes, and ensure sandbox mirrors production extension versions before wave updates to avoid “works in dev, breaks in prod” scenarios.

Regards,
Oussama Sabbouh

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