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C# AOT on Linux: A Cautionary Tale of Unreliability

Score: 7/10 Topic: C# AOT Compilation Issues on Linux

A developer reports severe stability issues with C# AOT compilation on Linux after two weeks of debugging, including unresolved coredumps and uncaught exceptions. The post serves as a critical real-world test of AOT's maturity for production backend services. This matters because many teams are exploring AOT for performance gains, but this experience suggests significant reliability gaps remain.

A C# developer has shared a detailed account of struggling with AOT (Ahead-of-Time) compilation on Linux for over two weeks. The project, a simple Kestrel-based backend service, has been plagued by persistent coredumps and exceptions that cannot be caught, crashing in unexpected locations. Despite efforts to resolve these issues, the developer concludes that C# AOT on Linux is 'completely unreliable' for production use. This experience is particularly relevant as many teams are evaluating AOT for its performance benefits, such as faster startup times and smaller binaries. However, this real-world test highlights that the technology may not yet be mature enough for stable production deployments on Linux. The post underscores the importance of thorough testing and consideration of alternative approaches when adopting AOT, especially for critical backend services. For the global developer community, this serves as a valuable data point in the ongoing debate about the readiness of C# AOT for cross-platform production environments.