Entity Framework Assemblies and File Location

ODP.NET ships with a separate assembly to support Code First and Entity Framework 6. This model physically separates Entity Framework 6 functionality from ADO.NET functionality.

The managed ODP.NET assembly is Oracle.ManagedDataAccess.EntityFramework.dll.

Unmanaged ODP.NET discontinued Entity Framework support starting with ODP.NET 21c. Unmanaged ODP.NET EF apps should migrate to managed ODP.NET.

When installed using the XCopy package, the Oracle Entity Framework assembly is found in the following location after install:

%ORACLE_HOME%\odp.net4\odp.net\managed\common\EF6

where %ORACLE_HOME% represents the operating system path to the installation directory.

The assembly is fully managed code and is designed to be bin deployable meaning that the assembly should be copied into the application's bin directory. As such the assembly is not registered in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) during installation.

In Oracle Universal Installer, the Oracle Entity Framework (Core) assemblies are now NuGet packages located in:

%ORACLE_HOME%\ODP.NET\nuget

In that location, you will find managed ODP.NET Entity Framework 6 and ODP.NET Entity Framework Core NuGet packages. ODP.NET users can install these packages using common Microsoft tools, such as NuGet Package Manager and Visual Studio.

Note:

If desired the Oracle Entity Framework 6 assemblies may be registered in the GAC manually but Oracle recommends not doing so.