Problems building in release mode with Teamcity - msbuild

We have a TeamCity project for building our .NET applications, using MSBuild as the build runner.
This works fine for debug applications, but fails when building in release mode.
The error in the log is as follows:
[13:45:51][Step 1/1] MSBuild command line parameters contain "/property:" or "/p:". It is recommended to define System Property on Build Parameters instead.
[13:46:21][Step 1/1] Publishing artifacts
[13:46:21][Publishing artifacts] Collecting files to publish: [C:\TeamCity\buildAgent\work\43d8c20fca7ef208\BuildScripts\RetainedPlanner\..\..\Build\Release\RetainedPlanner\..\*.msi]
[13:46:21][Step 1/1] Failed to publish artifacts: External scan (outside of basedir) is not allowed
[13:46:32][Step 1/1] Publishing artifacts
[13:46:32][Publishing artifacts] Collecting files to publish: [C:\TeamCity\buildAgent\work\43d8c20fca7ef208\BuildScripts\RetainedSMS\..\..\Build\Release\RetainedSMS\..\*.msi]
[13:46:32][Step 1/1] Failed to publish artifacts: External scan (outside of basedir) is not allowed
I am setting release build by either a build parameter (/p:Configuration=Release) or as a config option in TeamCity, they both have the same result.
The release build step is an exact copy of the debug build step except that I have changed the artifact path to be Build/Release/**/*.msi instead of Build/Debug/**/*.msi and set the config option for release mode.
This build step used to work, and has remained unchanged since Sept 2013. It was not run since then until now, and it now fails. The only differences are that I have updated the teamcity server to be server 2012, and team city itself has been updated to v9. I am unable to roll TeamCity back as it doesn't support this.
I have (of course) tried googling the error message, but nothing relevant can be found.
I have verified that the path exists.
I am not even clear where this error is being generated from - MSBuild?
We are using the MSBuildCommunityTasks including Wix, I've searched the .target files and cannot find this error message anywhere (or anything similar).
If anyone has any light they can shed on this, as we are stumped.

Related

Build Fails with "Error:The process '/usr/bin/dotnet' failed with exit code 1" after adding "no-build:true" in the dotnet pack command

The CI pipeline works well if I remove the nobuild:true option from the DotNetCoreCLI#2 task to pack the Project (ie to create a NuGet package) but I am not able to understand what special except not building the project does the nobuild option brings.
I need not want to build the Project again as the Previous task have already build the Project and locked the Assembly version of DLLs generated. I want to use the same build to create the NuGet package and to do the same I need to pass the NoBuild option but doing the same breaks the pipeline.
The pipeline gives the error that the DLLs to be packed are not present at the specified location but I tried to look at the location and I could find the DLLs.One thing that confuses me is that though I have given nobuild to be true but still the tasks shows as Building the Project.
- task: DotNetCoreCLI#2
displayName: ".NET pack"
inputs:
command: pack
packagesToPack: ${{ parameters.packagesToPack }}
nobuild: true
versioningScheme: byEnvVar
versionEnvVar: CI_Version
packDirectory: $(build.artifactStagingDirectory)\${{ parameters.packTo }}
verbosityPack: 'Normal'
Its also important to note that the same thing( nobuild:true) works on Windows Agent but it fails on Ubuntu Agent.
PS: It could be a case where windows has upgraded the agent and has caused the issue. I searched over the issue and found that one has to lock the .net SDK in the build pipeline
Thanks for the other answers that may be related to the issue but things were already taken care.
The issue was only on the Linux Environment because of an issue in .NET SDK. Refer here
The error(DLLs could not be found in the path specified ) that was being generated was correct in somehow but also it was misleading. The DLLs were being generated in Release folder at the build stage and when I was packing the DLLs they were being searched in release folder.
Though Release and release remains the same in Windows Environment but Ubuntu being case sensitive generates the Error.
The SDK implementation of .Net Core missed the IgnoreCase in the Regex option and that caused the build to break on switchin to a Linux Agent.
DotnetBuild:
Dotnet Pack:
Solution: Define the folder where to generate the DLLs in the .csproj and the automatically build and pack step would pick the DLLs from there.
For this error NU5026 ,it refers to the project being packed has not been built yet and hence cannot be packed. Please view this reference.
The file ''F:\project\bin\Debug\net461\project.exe' to be packed was not found on disk.
According to your description, you canceled the automatic build before pack. There's possibility that your build task and pack task did't run with same configuration. For example, In dotnet build task, the project is automatically built with Debug configuration, and in the pack task you set the configuration as Release.
In dotnet build task, the project is automatically built with Debug configuration.
In the dotnet pack task , the default Configuration to Package is Release
If you do not cancel the automatic build before pack, in the .net pack task the project is built in Release configuration.
So please check the log of your build task and pack task, make sure the dotnet build command and dotnet pack command use the same configuration.

Visual Studio Extension build failing with Error VSSDK1077: Unable to locate the extensions directory. "Value cannot be null

I have configured a TFS(2017) build pipeline to compile a VS extension with debug mode for a specific requirement which require .pdb files.
The build solution task fails for "debug" configuration with below error, however same pipeline works for the release configuration.
I have tried the approach mentioned in the following discussion as well, howewer it doesn't resolve my issue.
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/fd220999-5761-475a-bf86-98dff6b35218/unable-to-compile-vsix-project-that-is-a-part-of-my-solution-using-amd64-msbuild-from-vs2015?forum=msbuild
Appreciate if someone can help me to resolve this issue.
Following is the build configuration used for the Build Solution task:
Following build variables are used to configure build parameters.
Build Error message:
packages\Microsoft.VSSDK.BuildTools.15.1.192\tools\VSSDK\Microsoft.VsSDK.targets
(633, 5)
packages\Microsoft.VSSDK.BuildTools.15.1.192\tools\VSSDK\Microsoft.VsSDK.targets(633,5):
Error VSSDK1077: Unable to locate the extensions directory. "Value
cannot be null. Parameter name: path1". Process 'msbuild.exe' exited
with code '1'.
Update your Microsoft.VSSDK.BuildTools NuGet package to latest version 15.9.3032, just in case it is a problem already solved.
Release configurations can also generate PDB files (Project properties, Build tab, Advanced...button, Output > Debugging information). So, if the Release configuration works for you, you can keep using it while also generating a pdb file with full debug information.
The error is happening when, once compiled correctly, the generated VSIX output file is going to be deployed to the folder for extensions of the experimental VS instance, which is a required step to debug the VSIX file. A possible explanation of the different behavior for Debug/Release configurations is that maybe your .csproj specifies <DeployExtension>False</DeployExtension> for the Release configuration. By default, if not set, that property is set to true in the Microsoft.VsSDK.targets file:
<DeployExtension Condition="'$(DeployExtension)' == ''">true</DeployExtension>
Since likely you don't need to deploy the VSIX to the VS experimental instance when building on a build server (because you are not going to debug it), you can set that property to False to skip the deployment. This can be done with a 3rd build configuration (ex: "DebugBuildServer"), for which you specify DeployExtension to False in the .csproj file, or sticking to two build configurations but passing the /p:DeployExtension=false in the MSBuild arguments of the Visual Studio Build task of your build pipeline.

Teamcity 9x ignoring MsBuild parameters

I am trying to build, package and deploy a web application using Teamcity but for some reason Teamcity is ignoring the properties that I am passing to MsBuild.exe.
I have created a step in the build configuration to build, package and deploy teh application to the local server. Here are the properties:
/P:Configuration=Release
/P:DeployOnBuild=True
/P:DeployTarget=MSDeployPublish
/P:DeployIISAppPath=MyDeployedWebsitePath
/P:AllowUntrustedCertificate=True
/P:MSDeployPublishMethod=WMSvc
/P:CreatePackageOnPublish=True
/P:UserName=Administrator
/P:Password=******
/P:MsDeployServiceUrl=MyServerName
Passing them as command line parameters to MSBuild step or declaring them as System Properties in Parameters tabs doesn't seem to work. Teamcity builds the application but ignores the package and deployment steps!
If I execute MSBuild through command line on the same server (with the same params) the package and deployment works.
I am following the steps mentioned in Troy Hunt's series: https://www.troyhunt.com/you-deploying-it-wrong-teamcity_26/
I have read a lot of stack overflow questions and it seems to work seamlessly for others. I am not sure what's going wrong.
I would really appreciate any help.
Update - Build log
> Step 2/2: Build (MSBuild) (51s)
[18:32:48][Step 2/2] ##teamcity[buildStatisticValue key='buildStageDuration:buildStepRUNNER_18' value='0.0']
[18:32:48][Step 2/2] Starting: C:\TeamCity\buildAgent\plugins\dotnetPlugin\bin\JetBrains.BuildServer.MsBuildBootstrap.exe /workdir:C:\TeamCity\buildAgent\work\b12fe165603f4f19 /msbuildPath:C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\MSBuild.exe
[18:32:48][Step 2/2] in directory: C:\TeamCity\buildAgent\work\b12fe165603f4f19
[18:32:56][Step 2/2] Targets were not defined in the build configuration.
[18:32:56][Step 2/2] MSBuild command line parameters contain "/property:" or "/p:". It is recommended to define System Property on Build Parameters instead.
[18:33:02][Step 2/2] EnsembleID.Web\EnsembleID.Web.csproj.teamcity: Build target: Build (37s)
[18:33:40][Step 2/2] Process exited with code 0
It turned out to be a version issue :/
I tried different options for MSBuild version - Microsoft .Net Framework 4.5, 4.0 etc.
Finally, Microsoft Build Tools 2015 option worked.
For the past week I have been banging my head on this and I lost track of what all different permutations I tried. I had installed all the different versions of framework tools and web deployment tools, I am not sure why the other options didn't work for me. So if someone is facing a similar problem, make sure to try out different MSBuild version.

How to access artifacts folder after build in TFS online?

PreInfo: I have .net core web api (vs2015) mixed with just ordinary projects.
I have spent almost 2 days now to get this to work and search and tried everything I can think of, but I just cant for the live of me get the build and release in TFS online to play together.
The build (publish artifact step) says "Directory 'D:\a\1\a' is empty. Nothing will be added to build artifact 'drop'."
but the "run dot net" step says
"Published to D:\a\1\s\Operator\MobileService\root\MobileService\src\AMP.Operator.MobileService\bin\release\net452\win7-x64\publish"
...so it must be somewhere the release can pick it up but no matter what I try I can´t get it to be picked up.
Here is my build setup
dotnet run
publishing
And the realse with $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/MobileService-Dev please note that I have tried every combo of $(build.artifactstagingdirectory) in the build to publish without luck but I sure this should point to the publishing folder for the build
I so hope somebody can point me to a solution. I just can´t understand how hard it is to make this work..
Within your build definition, I recommend adding a Copy Files step that will copy your the build artifacts from your msbuild results to the Build's Artifact Staging Directory before you run the Publish Artifact step.
Source Folder: $(Build.SourcesDirectory)
Contents: **\bin\$(BuildConfiguration)\**
Target Folder: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)
I am assuming that the $(BuildConfiguration) variable is custom to your definition and is probably Debug or Release. I am not sure what exactly the Run dotnet step does, but this build definition I setup published my build artifacts correctly. The Publish Build Artifacts step I'm running has the same steps as yours, except the only control option enabled is Enabled.
I am also running on TFS 2015 update 2.
You can download the files if you just want to take a look at them. Go to the build, click on the Artifacts tab, and then download as shown below:
You need to specify output argument (--output/-o) for dotnet publish command.
Arguments:
Publish -c $(BuildConfiguration) -o $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)
BTW: You said “run dot net” step says “Published to D:\a\1\s....”, the files are in D:\a\1\s, no files in D:\a\1\a (one is s and another is a).

MSBuild fails due to error APPX0002: Task 'GenerateAppxPackageRecipe' failed. Value cannot be null

I'm attempting to do a command line package deploy for our Windows Store Application.
My command line instructions are:
msbuild /m /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x86 /target:Build
I'm using VS2013 Professional with Windows 8.1
I get the following error:
C:\Program Files
(x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\AppxPackage\Microsoft.AppXPackage.Targets(1224,9):
error APPX0002: Task 'GenerateAppxPackageRecipe' failed. Value cannot
be null.\r [C:\Path\Project.csproj]
C:\Program Files
(x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\AppxPackage\Microsoft.AppXPackage.Targets(1224,9):
error APPX0002: Parameter name: source\r [C:\Path\Project.csproj]
How should I resolve this?
This error was resolved by using the correct version of msbuild.exe
On a clean build server with VS2013 installed, there are (at least) two copies of msbuild.exe installed. In our case the install locations were:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin\msbuild.exe
and
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe
The one in the .Net Framework folder was the one that gave us the errors. Using the version installed in the Program Files folder resolved the issue.
It's impossible to help you without having the code which can reproduce the error. I suspect some property does not resolve correctly when building outside VS(eg VisualStudioVersion) and needs to be passed from command line. VS also uses msbuild to build your projects, so comparing build logs from VS and CMD should help you track down the problem.
I suggest, that you set visual studio's build output verbosity to diagnostic, clean solution, than build and capture the build log.
Then clean solution and build from command line with verbosity set to diagnostic and /fl switch(log to file, because diagnostic build log is way too long to analyse in console window).
Compare command-line output to VS output. Look for the differences. With diagnostic level of verbosity, chances are, you'll find out what's missing (I had similar issues with database projects failing to build from cmd due to VisualStudioVersion variable not being resolved correctly, so I passed it from command line).
NB: diagnostic log is very verbose which makes analysis hard: I'd start from detailed verbosity level.
I have deleted all files/folders from "project"/bin folder, cleaned the solution and rebuild with success !
For those facing the issue on hybrid app (corodova in my case), delete the build folder manually and re-build from VS.
Standard clean solution didn't do the job.