Good introduction to the Community Server 2008.5 SDK from my friend Bill Bosacker. I mentioned in my last End of Week Community Server Riff that I upgraded to VS2008 specifically because of CS2008.5 compile issues in VS2005, so I can concur with everything Bill said here. Not a problem, of course. CS2008.5 was a good reason to finally upgrade.
Like Bill pointed out, I thought it was interesting for the first time in Community Server SDK history to encounter code marked obsolete, an apparent reflection of Community Server's maturity.
As for an Upgrader in the SDK, Bill said it was necessary to download the CS2008.5 Upgrade project. Right again. I was searching everywhere in the SDK for the darn thing.
Yeap, lots of compiler warning messages in CS2008.5, but I go with the old software adage, "If it compiles, stock the aisles!" Okay, I made that up, but Bill was always more of a stickler on the behind-the-scenes fine points than me. One of the reasons he's such a top notch Community Server Developer.
I thought I'd add a picture to what Bill said, as it's about the only contribution I can make to his post. Below is a pic of one of my CS2008.5 project solutions. Bill made the point that the OpenID, SearchBarrel and MailRoom projects are not part of the main SDK. They're included in the download, just not loaded in the default Solution file.
With nothing else to add I'll parrot Bill's sign-off. "For now, enjoy the changes..."