Pack always builds a project with reference assemblies

[bgavrilMS]

1. Add a reference assembly to a project, like described in the blog (e.g. https://github.com/AzureAD/microsoft-authentication-library-for-dotnet)

2. Build the sln, which builds both project and ref project

3. Pack via "msbuild /t:pack /p:nobuild=true"

Actual:
The pack does not obey the "nobuild" setting. It needs to rebuild because the ref assemblies are not actually produced in step 2

Expected:
Pack should not rebuild

Impact:
Because pack rebuilds, some DLLs are overwritten. This makes DLL signing difficult. Ideally all DLLs should be on disk and /t:pack just packs

Workaround:
I can workaround by packing twice. So my release pipeline looks like this:

• build
• pack
• sign lib assemblies
• sign ref assemblies
• pack /nobuild

[clairernovotny]

I'll look into this when I can, but in general, I would not suggest making sign as part of the build step. I'd have build/pack do just that, then send the nuget to the signing mechanism once built (you can always extract/repack the nuget with zip before the nuget itself is signed).

[erikpowa]

Having similar problem here.
Can't run a Target\Task from a .targets inherited from a PackageReference before GenerateNuspec like this

<Target Name="ForceCall" BeforeTargets="GenerateNuspec">
    <CallTarget Targets="TheTask" />
</Target>

I guess the .targets isn't available at that point. (It's working fine if I hook it during build, like AfterTargets="CoreCompile" + working if the .targets is part of the project)

[GeertvanHorrik]

This is why I used dotnet pack instead (it respects the nobuild). I did test this last week, and the problem seems solved?

The scripts I use are here:

https://github.com/GeertvanHorrik/RepositoryTemplate/blob/master/replace/deployment/cake/components-tasks.cake#L218

Will investigate to make sure that references are not being rebuild.

[GeertvanHorrik]

I am using the preview versions of VS, but msbuild with nobuild & pack no longer seems to build reference assemblies (and thus overriding the signed assemblies).