NuGetizer v0.9.1 packing reference assembly instead of real assembly

[RichardD2]

Describe the Bug

I have a .NET Framework 4.8 project using NuGetizer 0.9.1 which is set up to generate a package on the release build.

Since upgrading to VS2022 v17.4, the generated package contains the reference assembly version of System.Buffers, despite the project having an explicit reference to that package.

Steps to Reproduce

Create a new console application. Add references to System.Memory, System.Buffers, and NuGetizer. Set the package ID and the "generate package on build" flag.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
        <TargetFramework>net48</TargetFramework>
        <GeneratePackageOnBuild>True</GeneratePackageOnBuild>
        <PackageId>TestNuGetizer</PackageId>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <PackageReference Include="System.Buffers" Version="4.5.1" PrivateAssets="all" />
        <PackageReference Include="System.Memory" Version="4.5.5" PrivateAssets="all" />
        <PackageReference Include="NuGetizer" Version="0.9.1">
            <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
            <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
        </PackageReference>
    </ItemGroup>
</Project>

Build the project.

Open the generated nupkg file in NuGet Package Explorer.

Extract lib/net48/System.Buffers.dll from the file.

Observe that the file is the reference assembly, not the real assembly. Specifically, the reference assembly is 15Kb whereas the real assembly is 21Kb. If you open the file with a decompiler, you will see there are no bodies defined for any methods or properties.

Expected Behavior

The generated nupkg file should contain the real assembly.

Version Info

NuGetizer v0.9.1 (latest stable)
VS2022 v17.4.1

Additional Info

The same project generated the correct package in VS v17.3.x

[kzu]

Does this work as expected if you use the built-in SDK Pack instead?

[RichardD2]

Using dotnet pack at the command-line produces the same output - the reference version of System.Buffers is included rather than the real version.

Removing NuGetizer from the project results in a package that doesn't contain any of the referenced assemblies. That would be fine for a package that was going to be referenced from another project; but I'm using this to build a Squirrel.Windows package for distribution, which needs to contain all of the assemblies.

As a workaround, I had to create an explicit nuspec file to include all of the files from the output directory, and an explicit post-build step to build the package before "releasifying" it.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2012/06/nuspec.xsd">
  <metadata>
    <id>My-Package-Id</id>
    <version>0.0.0.0</version>
    <authors>...</authors>
    <requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
    <icon>MyIcon.png</icon>
    <projectUrl>...</projectUrl>
    <description>...</description>
    <copyright>...</copyright>
    <language>en-GB</language>
    <tags>Library</tags>
    <dependencies>
      <group targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
    </dependencies>
    <frameworkAssemblies>
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="Microsoft.CSharp" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="PresentationCore" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="PresentationFramework.Aero" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="PresentationFramework" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="ReachFramework" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Configuration" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Data.OracleClient" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Design" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Drawing.Primitives" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.IO" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Net" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Net.Http" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Printing" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Runtime" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Security.Cryptography.Algorithms" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Security.Cryptography.Encoding" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Security.Cryptography.Primitives" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Security" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.ServiceProcess" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Transactions" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="System.Xaml" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
      <frameworkAssembly assemblyName="WindowsBase" targetFramework=".NETFramework4.7.2" />
    </frameworkAssemblies>
  </metadata>
  <files>
    <file src="*.*" target="lib\net472\" exclude="*.nupkg;*.vshost.*;*.xml;*.dll.config"/>
    <file src="..\..\..\..\..\MyIcon.png" target="MyIcon.png" />
  </files>
</package>

<Target Name="SquirrelReleasify" AfterTargets="PostBuildEvent" Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">
    <GetAssemblyIdentity AssemblyFiles="$(TargetPath)">
        <Output TaskParameter="Assemblies" ItemName="myAssemblyInfo" />
    </GetAssemblyIdentity>

    <PropertyGroup>
        <NuGetPackageRoot Condition=" '$(NuGetPackageRoot)' == '' ">$(USERPROFILE)\.nuget\packages\</NuGetPackageRoot>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <SquirrelExe Include="$(NuGetPackageRoot)\Squirrel.Windows\2.0.1\tools\squirrel.exe" />
    </ItemGroup>

    <PropertyGroup>
        <ReleaseDir>$(ProjectDir)Releases</ReleaseDir>
        <SquirrelParams>--no-msi --framework-version=net472 -n "/a /f ""$(ProjectDir)MyCert.pfx"" /p MyCertPassword /fd sha256 /tr http://timestamp.digicert.com /td sha256"</SquirrelParams>
        <SemVerNumber>$([System.Version]::Parse(%(myAssemblyInfo.Version)).ToString(3))</SemVerNumber>
        <SourcePackage>$(ProjectDir)bin\$(Configuration)\My-Package-Id.$(SemVerNumber).nupkg</SourcePackage>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <Error Condition="!Exists(%(SquirrelExe.FullPath))" Text="You are trying to use the Squirrel.Windows package, but it is not installed. Please install Squirrel.Windows from the Package Manager. [%(SquirrelExe.FullPath)]" />

    <Exec Command="nuget pack My-Package-Id.nuspec -Version %(myAssemblyInfo.Version) -Properties Configuration=$(Configuration) -OutputDirectory $(ProjectDir)bin\$(Configuration)\ -BasePath $(OutDir)" />

    <Error Condition="!Exists($(SourcePackage))" Text="The source package $(SourcePackage) does not exist." />

    <Exec Command="&quot;%(SquirrelExe.FullPath)&quot; --releasify &quot;$(SourcePackage)&quot; --releaseDir=&quot;$(ReleaseDir)&quot; $(SquirrelParams)" />
</Target>

[kzu]

Oh no, that's the worst, nuspec should die for good ;).

NuGetizer provides advanced extensibility via MSBuild so you never need to do that, however challenging your scenario might seem. Check the advanced scenarios in the readme. In particular, pulling arbitrary files from package references should totally solve your issue (while I investigate how to properly solve it).

See https://github.com/devlooped/nugetizer/#packing-arbitrary-files-from-referenced-packages

A combination of Pack=false on the reference plus explicit packing if the files your want, should fix it.

[RichardD2]

This seems to produce the correct output:

<ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="System.Buffers" Version="4.5.1" GeneratePathProperty="true" Pack="false" />
    <PackageReference Include="System.Memory" Version="4.5.5" PrivateAssets="all" />
    <PackageReference Include="NuGetizer" Version="0.9.1">
        <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
        <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
    </PackageReference>
</ItemGroup>

<ItemGroup>
    <PackageFile Include="lib/net461/System.Buffers.dll" PackagePath="lib/net48/System.Buffers.dll" PackageReference="System.Buffers" />
</ItemGroup>

However, VS2022 now shows lib/net461/System.Buffers.dll as a missing file/folder:

Have I missed something?

[kzu]

Just add Visible=false to the item (that's just how VS/MSBuild works by default):

<PackageFile Include="lib/net461/System.Buffers.dll" 
             PackagePath="lib/net48/System.Buffers.dll" 
             PackageReference="System.Buffers" 
             Visible="false" />

[kzu]

BTW, you can simplify nugetizer reference to just <PackageReference Include="NuGetizer" Version="0.9.1" />. It will never pack itself as a dependency.

[kzu]

Looking at the underlying root cause, something seems to be specific to System.Buffers, because System.Memory is packed as expected:

(using msbuildlog.com)

[kzu]

Found the root cause! dotnet/msbuild#3069