How to copy contentFiles of NuGet package references via MSBuild Copy task - msbuild

Question

We have several repositories and each one has its own .editorconfig. Obviously, these are not synced, which is why I would like to distribute the .editorconfig from our framework solution (along with other files) via NuGet package to all our repositories/solutions and copy it via a simple Copy build Task to the solution directory.
I attempted to do the following:
Create a project "EditorConfigDistribution", which is supposed to contain the master .editorconfig file.
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
...
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
<NoDefaultExcludes>true</NoDefaultExcludes>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include=".editorconfig">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
<Pack>true</Pack>
<PackageCopyToOutput>false</PackageCopyToOutput>
<PackagePath>contentFiles\any\any\content</PackagePath>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
This all works as expected and I do get the desired .editorconfig file in my project from the other solutions and it is referenced as shortcut in a folder content/.editorconfig (see EditorConfigConsumer Project Structure).
The file is only a reference to C:\Users\<user>\.nuget\packages\editorconfigdistribution\1.0.0\contentFiles\any\any\content\.editorconfig.
Now, I want to copy that .editorconfig file via build task:
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
...
<ItemGroup>
<PackageReference Include="EditorConfigDistribution" Version="1.0.0">
</PackageReference>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="CopyEditorConfig" BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild">
<ItemGroup>
<EditorConfigFileToCopy Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\content\.editorconfig" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(EditorConfigFileToCopy)" DestinationFolder="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\.." SkipUnchangedFiles="true" UseHardlinksIfPossible="false" />
</Target>
</Project>
However, I do get the following error:
Error MSB3030: Could not copy the file "C:\Users\weberma9\source\repos\<some_path>\EditorConfigConsumer\content\.editorconfig" because it was not found. (20, 5)
I can understand that the file (since it is a shortcut) cannot be found, but I just cannot figure out a way to reference that shortcut correctly in my build task.
What do I need to change in that line <EditorConfigFileToCopy Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\content\.editorconfig" />?
Of course, if you have better approaches to my general problem - I'm glad to hear about it.

Answer 1

I was able to find a solution for my problem:
I not only provide the .editorconfig, but also the Copy-Build task via my EditorConfigDistribution project, which looks like this now:
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
<NoDefaultExcludes>true</NoDefaultExcludes>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<None Include="..\..\.editorconfig">
<Link>Rules\.editorconfig</Link>
<Pack>true</Pack>
<PackageCopyToOutput>false</PackageCopyToOutput>
<PackagePath>Rules\</PackagePath>
</None>
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<None Include="build\**">
<Pack>true</Pack>
<PackageCopyToOutput>false</PackageCopyToOutput>
<PackagePath>build\</PackagePath>
</None>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
The .props file is straightforward and due to the convention that <package_id>.props and <package_id>.target are added to projects that consume the package (see Include MSBuild props and targets in a package), it will always be executed before 'BeforeBuild'.
EditorConfigDistribution.props (placed in build folder):
<Project>
<Target Name="CopyEditorConfig" BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild">
<ItemGroup>
<EditorConfigFilesToCopy Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\Rules\.editorconfig" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(EditorConfigFilesToCopy)" DestinationFolder="$(SolutionDir).." SkipUnchangedFiles="true" UseHardlinksIfPossible="false" />
</Target>
</Project>