VS 2019 Upgrade to 16.9.4 Causes Compile/Link Error

Question

For a project that built this morning with VS 2019 16.9.3 I am getting a compile/link time error after upgrading to VS 2019 16.9.4:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\MSBuild\Microsoft\VC\v160\Microsoft.CppCommon.targets(1480,5): error MSB3025: The source file "C:\MySource\MyLib\Debug\" is actually a directory. The "Copy" task does not support copying directories.

A check of Microsoft.CppCommon.targets for that line shows:

<Copy Condition="'%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName)' != '$(OutDir)$(TargetName).pdb' and
                 ('%(ClCompile.DebugInformationFormat)' == 'ProgramDatabase' or '%(ClCompile.DebugInformationFormat)' == 'EditAndContinue') and
                 Exists(%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName))" SourceFiles="%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName)" DestinationFiles="$(OutDir)$(TargetName).pdb" />

There is clearly a file name and extension, $(TargetName).pdb, in the DestinationFiles:

$(OutDir)= "C:\MySource\MyLib\Debug\"
$(TargetName)= "MyLib"

It seems like the last part of DestinationFiles, "$(TargetName).pdb" is being ignored.

Again, the only change between successful build and unsuccessful build is the upgrade of VS 2019 from 16.9.3 to 16.9.4.

Update:

In looking at the error more, I realized the error reads "The source file...", which implies a problem with

SourceFiles="%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName)"

Answer 1

Hi LanceMichaelB,

I try to create a C++ console application with this command in 16.9.4, and macro value can be recognized as normal.

Not sure if it is caused by caches, you can delete .vs folder, which is used to save the VS configuration of your project, then rebuild your project.

Best Regards, Dylan

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Answer 2

For more information, please reference https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/vs-2019-upgrade-to-1694-causes-compilelink-error/1398368?from=email&viewtype=all

Answer 3

I am encountering the same issue.

Deleting the .vs folder does not affect or solve the problem.

The issue is in Microsoft.CppCommon.targets:

<!-- make sure lib's pdb is near the lib -->
<Copy Condition="'%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName)' != '$(OutDir)$(TargetName).pdb' and
                 ('%(ClCompile.DebugInformationFormat)' == 'ProgramDatabase' or '%(ClCompile.DebugInformationFormat)' == 'EditAndContinue') and
                 Exists(%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName))" SourceFiles="%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName)" DestinationFiles="$(OutDir)$(TargetName).pdb" />

The simplest way to fix the problem is to comment out this section, entirely:

<!-- make sure lib's pdb is near the lib 
<Copy Condition="'%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName)' != '$(OutDir)$(TargetName).pdb' and
                 ('%(ClCompile.DebugInformationFormat)' == 'ProgramDatabase' or '%(ClCompile.DebugInformationFormat)' == 'EditAndContinue') and
                 Exists(%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName))" SourceFiles="%(ClCompile.ProgramDatabaseFileName)" DestinationFiles="$(OutDir)$(TargetName).pdb" />  -->

However, Microsoft really needs to fix this.