Business Central BC29: Control Global Symbol Versions
Global symbol download in AL development and the BC 29 "global source enforce minor version" setting, which limits downloaded symbols to the major and minor version in app.json. Covers how BC 28 resolved only the major version, and how to configure the setting.
- Introduction and Overview
- What are AL Symbols
- Traditional Symbol Download Methods
- Global Symbol Download in BC 28
- Problem with Version Resolution
- BC 29 Global Source Enforce Minor Version
- Use Cases and Scenarios
- Summary and Key Takeaways
Overview
The video explains what AL symbols are and reviews the traditional ways to download them. It then covers global symbol download, introduced in BC 28, which lets AL developers get symbols from a global source without a Docker environment or a Business Central client instance. It then describes the version resolution problem in BC 28, where only the major version is respected. The BC 29 setting, global source enforce minor version, constrains downloads to the major and minor version in app.json while still taking the newest patch in that minor version. The video demos the setting and walks through use cases.
Key points
- Global symbol download was introduced in BC 28 (2026 release wave one). It downloads symbols from a global source (NuGet feeds) without a Docker environment or a Business Central client instance.
- Symbols from the global source are read-only versions without code.
- In BC 28, global symbol download resolves only the major version from app.json and picks the latest available version, for example 28.5 even when app.json specifies 28.1.
- In BC 29, the global source enforce minor version option limits downloads to the major and minor version in app.json. The newest hotfix within that minor version is still selected.
- When the setting is disabled (the default), the latest version within the same major version is downloaded, regardless of the minor version.
- The setting is under the AL extension. You can enable it in user settings or set it to true in the workspace settings.json. Workspace settings are recommended for teams that use source control.
- Traditional symbol download through launch.json looks for the minimum dependency version in app.json and downloads a higher version if an exact match is not available.
Features
| Feature | Status | At |
|---|---|---|
| Global Symbol Download | status not stated, demoed | 4:50 |
| Global Source Enforce Minor Version | generally available (roadmap Restrict global symbol resolution to a minor version), demoed | 9:40 |
A status with a roadmap link comes from the Microsoft 365 roadmap feature this part of the video covers (matched by Haiku; links Opus dropped are not used); other statuses need a status word in the video itself.
AL objects mentioned
As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.
Quotes
- 0:16 “Now, with Business Central 2026 release wave two, Microsoft is giving AL developer more control over which symbols are downloaded”
- 0:28 “Now, in BC 29, you can restrict global symbol resolution to a major or to a and minor versions specified in your app.json”
- 4:11 “The minimum version of the dependent extension. So, the way download symbol to work, it looks for the minimum version that your app can”
- 5:27 “starting 2026 release wave one, obviously 28, Microsoft introduced an ability to download symbols from global source”
- 9:40 “in version 29, Microsoft enforce minor version by introducing global source enforce minor version”
Disclaimers in the video
- 14:37 other: when you download from global symbols, the only thing that you will not get when you get into AL Explorer …
Presenters (as heard): Saurav Dhyani.