withSupportedRuntime.config files generated for exe type projects after migration to SDK style

JP 1

We are in the middle of transition from old style to SDK style for our projects. We noticed that for exe types, msbuild will generate additional file apart of exe and exe.config. Because of that our integration pipelin will fail as they will not expect such files to be produced. File end with "*.withSupportedRuntime.config". There doesn't seems to be much info what this file do in addition to exe.config. Do we really need those files to be deployed with our .NET Framework binaries. I assume not as those was not required before.. And most importantly. Can we stop msbuild generating them ? And if yes, how we can do it.

Tianyu Sun-MSFT 27,431 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-08-10T05:57:36.09+00:00

Hi @JP ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. Is the exe.config file you mentioned above the App.config file? If so, the App.config file isn't included in SDK style projects, you may need to remove this file, or use other files to replace this file when you are migrating your project. I think the *.withSupportedRuntime.config file was created based on App.config file. If the App.config file doesn't exist, it should not be generated, you can try this.
JP 1 Reputation point

2022-08-11T19:08:47.977+00:00

Hi,

I dont know what you mean by "Is the exe.config file you mentioned above the App.config file". exe.config is something what is generated by compiler during build. So if we have project which is defined with <OutputType>Exe</OutputType> and if have just some source code system will generate. AssemblyName.Exe and AssemblyName.exe.config. After switch exactly same project to SDK style project it will generate AssemblyNAme.Exe, AssemblyName.exe.Confog and AssemblyName.exe.withSupportedRuntime.config. Yous suggestion doesn't work. We dont have any app.config in project itself and system still generating .exe.withSupportedRuntime.config files. Also I dont want to just do something without knowing what and why Im doing. SO I would still like to know what is that file for, why is system generating it as this is same exe type .NET Framework 4.8 projects as before and before such file was not required. And lastly. App.config file can be valid as projects can have apps specific config content in them and we cant just delete them. And in such case .exe.withSupportedRuntime.config will be still generated (although as it seems those files are generated regardless if app.config exist or not)
Tianyu Sun-MSFT 27,431 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-08-19T09:01:54.007+00:00

Hi @JP ,

I have tested on my side by using upgrade-assistant tool, and I find the *.exe.withSupportedRuntime.config file in obj folder. In my opinion, this file is stored in obj folder and is prepared for generating exe.config file, but it will not be removed automatically.

Can we stop msbuild generating them?

I’m not sure how you migrate your project. As you know there are several ways. If you are using upgrade-assistant tool to migrate the project, then you can’t stop msbuild generating them, as the file is generated during the process of converting to SDK style. It’s a whole step, and cannot be split. You may consider using some other features/commands to remove them right after the tool finishes converting the project. It seems that migrating the project manually won’t generate this file, if you migrate the project manually please let me know whether you configured/modified something.

Regards,
Tianyu

1 answer

JP 1 Reputation point

2022-08-24T15:49:56.533+00:00

We found root cost for this issue. Our project contains many *.config files which in majority cases should be copied to target directories. And therefore they are configured as "content" and <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>. To avoid listing and redefining every single config file in project which this attributes we added following config to project.
<Content Include="***.config">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>

Based on Microsoft SDK style project documentation. By default obj and bin folder are excluded from this rules (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/project-sdk/overview). However when such project is loaded over Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.Project fthose files will be listed as project item with Content\PreserveNewest as this class is ignoring DefaultItemExcludes locations and therefore files are incorrectly considered as content of project files. We will be raising bug for Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.
Please sign in to rate this answer.

0 comments No comments
Sign in to comment