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'dotnet pack' uses Release configuration

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The dotnet pack command, which packs code into a NuGet package, now uses the Release configuration instead of the Debug configuration by default.

Previous behavior

Previously, dotnet pack used the Debug configuration unless the configuration was specified explicitly or PackRelease was set to true.

The PackRelease property was added in .NET 7 as a path forward to this breaking change. Previously, you could set the DOTNET_CLI_ENABLE_PACK_RELEASE_FOR_SOLUTIONS environment variable to use PackRelease in a project that was part of a Visual Studio solution.

New behavior

If you're developing with the .NET 8 SDK or a later version, dotnet pack uses the Release configuration by default for all projects. If you have a CI/CD script, tests, or code where you've hardcoded Debug into an output path, this change may break your workflow. Also, you won't be able to debug a packed app unless the Debug configuration was explicitly specified (for example, using dotnet pack --configuration Debug.

dotnet pack can pack for multiple target framework monikers (TFM) at the same time. If your project targets multiple versions and you have different PackRelease values for different targets, you can have a conflict where some TFMs pack the Release configuration and others pack the Debug configuration.

For projects in a solution:

  • dotnet pack can pack all the projects in a Visual Studio solution if given a solution file. For each project in the solution, the value of PackRelease is implicitly set to true if it's undefined. In order for dotnet pack to determine the correct configuration to use, all projects in the solution must agree on their value of PackRelease.

  • This change might cause the performance of dotnet pack to regress, especially for solutions that contain many projects. To address this, a new environment variable DOTNET_CLI_LAZY_PUBLISH_AND_PACK_RELEASE_FOR_SOLUTIONS has been introduced.

  • The DOTNET_CLI_ENABLE_PACK_RELEASE_FOR_SOLUTIONS environment variable is no longer recognized.

Version introduced

.NET 8 Preview 1

Type of breaking change

This change can affect source compatibility and is also a behavioral change.

Reason for change

In most cases when you create a package, you want your code to be optimized and can keep the package smaller by excluding debugging information.

The DOTNET_CLI_ENABLE_PACK_RELEASE_FOR_SOLUTIONS environment variable was removed since the behavior it enabled is now the default behavior and the granular control is no longer necessary.

  • To disable the new behavior entirely, you can set the DOTNET_CLI_DISABLE_PUBLISH_AND_PACK_RELEASE environment variable to true (or any other value). This variable affects both dotnet publish and dotnet pack.

  • To explicitly specify the Debug configuration for packing, use the -c or --configuration option with dotnet pack.

  • If your CI/CD pipeline is broken due to hardcoded output paths, update the paths to Release instead of Debug, disable the new behavior using the DOTNET_CLI_DISABLE_PUBLISH_AND_PACK_RELEASE environment variable, or specify that the Debug configuration should be used.

  • If you're packing a solution and it's broken because one or more projects explicitly sets a value for PackRelease, you should explicitly set PackRelease to false in each project:

    <PropertyGroup>
  <PackRelease>false</PackRelease>
</PropertyGroup>

  • If you're packing a solution and the performance has regressed, you can set the DOTNET_CLI_LAZY_PUBLISH_AND_PACK_RELEASE_FOR_SOLUTIONS environment variable to true (or any other value) to remove the regression. If you use this variable and any project defines PackRelease, all projects must define it, or you can use a Directory.Build.Props file. This variable affects both dotnet publish and dotnet pack.

See also