On 2023-04-08 new versions of the Oracle client NuGet packages were released. Those new versions added new dependencies for older branches of the packages. Was this done on purpose?
More details:
Oracle.ManagedDataAccess packages started having a dependency on System.Text.Json with branch 21.x. This makes sense since the release notes mention some JSON features.
Oracle.ManagedDataAccess packages on branch 19.x continued to have no dependencies until version 19.18.0. But with the new version 19.19.0 it now also has a dependency on System.Text.Json.
The assembly in package version 19.19.0 does not actually reference System.Text.Json, so it seems like the NuGet package reference is wrong.
I didn't update to package version 21.x until now exactly because of that System.Text.Json dependency (or rather because of all the dependecies it brings with it). I don't need JSON features and I'm using DB server version 19 anyway.
The situation for Oracle.ManagedDataAccess.Core is similar. Dependencies started with branch 3.21.x, which makes sense. Branch 2.19.x had no dependencies until 2.19.180, but now has the same dependencies as the 3.21.x branch with version 2.19.190. The assembly in package version 2.19.190 does not actually reference System.Text.Json.
But what is different here is that the assembly in package version 2.19.190 does have references on two other System.* assemblies. But those were also already present in the assembly in package version 2.19.180. I'm not sure if those NuGet package references were missing until version 2.19.180.