CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netbuildmsbuilddependencies
Thomas Freudenberg
Thomas Freudenberg

Reputation: 5078

Project dependency in solution file lets build fail

This repository reproduces a dotnet build issue we're facing.

We have a web application targeting netcoreapp2.1. and a class library targeting both netstandard2.0 and net47.

The web application provides a web API, and we're using NSwag to generate the corresponding C# client. Therefore the build process must first build the web application, and the class library afterwards.

Because of this required order we have defined a Project Dependency in the solution: Project Dependency

However, while it builds fine in Visual Studio, it fails on the command line:

$ dotnet build dotnetBuildIssue.sln
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 15.8.166+gd4e8d81a88 for .NET Core
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

  Restore completed in 42.36 ms for C:\work\tmp\dotnetBuildIssue\ClassLib\ClassLib.csproj.
  Restore completed in 63.56 ms for C:\work\tmp\dotnetBuildIssue\WebApp\WebApp.csproj.
  WebApp -> C:\work\tmp\dotnetBuildIssue\WebApp\bin\Debug\netcoreapp2.1\WebApp.dll
C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\NuGetFallbackFolder\microsoft.aspnetcore.app\2.1.1\build\netcoreapp2.1\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.targets(14,5): error : This version of Microsoft.AspNetCore.App is only compatible with the netcoreapp2.1 target framework. Please target netcoreapp2.1 or choose a version of Microsoft.AspNetCore.App compatible with netstandard2.0. [C:\work\tmp\dotnetBuildIssue\WebApp\WebApp.csproj]
C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\NuGetFallbackFolder\microsoft.aspnetcore.app\2.1.1\build\netcoreapp2.1\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.targets(14,5): error : This version of Microsoft.AspNetCore.App is only compatible with the netcoreapp2.1 target framework. Please target netcoreapp2.1 or choose a version of Microsoft.AspNetCore.App compatible with net47. [C:\work\tmp\dotnetBuildIssue\WebApp\WebApp.csproj]

Build FAILED.

To me it looks like dotnet uses the class library's TargetFramework net47 to compile the web application, though we only set a project dependency to enforce a specific build order.

Our real solutions contains more than 15 projects, so adding a build task for each and every project in the VSTS Azure DevOps build pipeline is less than optimal.

We would have preferred not having to define the dependency in the solution file, but we haven't found a working way to do it in the .csproj file.

Any hint how to enforce a specific order of the projects without a direct reference (we're targeting different frameworks) is welcome.

I have published a repro at GitHub.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 380

Answers (1)

Thomas Freudenberg
Thomas Freudenberg

Reputation: 5078

Actually, some more research revealed that this issue is known and will be fixed in MSBuild 15.9. A temporary fix is also mentioned in above thread: put a file Directory.Build.props next to your solution file with following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <!-- Solution build dependencies are not project dependencies. https://github.com/Microsoft/msbuild/issues/3626 -->
    <AddSyntheticProjectReferencesForSolutionDependencies>false</AddSyntheticProjectReferencesForSolutionDependencies>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Upvotes: 2

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