*.dll.config from package reference not copied to output on publish

[fubar-coder]

Description

It seems that the *.dll.config files from a package reference aren't copied to the output directory during a dotnet publish.

Use case

I stumbled across this problem while consuming my FubarDev.PamSharp package, which requires having the ´.dll.configfile, because it contains adllmap` that is needed to find the correct native library.

dotnet --info

.NET Core SDK (reflecting any global.json):
 Version:   3.0.100-preview5-011568
 Commit:    b487ff10aa

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     ubuntu
 OS Version:  16.04
 OS Platform: Linux
 RID:         ubuntu.16.04-x64
 Base Path:   /home/fubar-coder/dotnet/sdk/3.0.100-preview5-011568/

Host (useful for support):
  Version: 3.0.0-preview5-27626-15
  Commit:  61f30f5a23

.NET Core SDKs installed:
  3.0.100-preview5-011568 [/home/fubar-coder/dotnet/sdk]

.NET Core runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.0.0-preview5-19227-01 [/home/fubar-coder/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.0.0-preview5-27626-15 [/home/fubar-coder/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]

To install additional .NET Core runtimes or SDKs:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet-download

System information

Windows 10 Pro for Workstation 1809 (Build 17763.475)

[fubar-coder]

It wasn't part of the package, sorry for the inconvenience.

[fubar-coder]

Ok, version 0.3.0 now contains a .dll.config in lib/netcoreapp3.0 and it's not copied to the bin/Debug/netcoreapp3.0 directory and it's not published. What can I do?

[livarcocc]

I think maybe you should mark that file as content, so that it gets copied?

cc @rrelyea @nkolev92

[nkolev92]

There's no first class support for those as far as I'm aware.
Making them content as @livarcocc suggested and marking the action as "compile" might work though.

[fubar-coder]

Ok, I can add it as content, but how do I set the action as "compile"?

[nkolev92]

Set a BuildAction property on the item.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/reference/msbuild-targets#targetsfortfmspecificcontentinpackage
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/reference/msbuild-targets#including-content-in-a-package

[fubar-coder]

This doesn't seem to work. The *.dll.config is added under "contentFiles", but I get compile errors in the project that uses this nuget package.

This is how I tried to add it:

  <Target Name="CustomContentTarget">
    <ItemGroup>
      <TfmSpecificPackageFile Include="app.config">
        <BuildAction>Compile</BuildAction>
        <PackagePath>contentFiles/any/$(TargetFramework)/$(AssemblyName).dll.config</PackagePath>
      </TfmSpecificPackageFile>
    </ItemGroup>
  </Target>

[pfeigl]

We ran into the same problem. While I still think this is a actual bug (.config not copied along with the assembly when building, while this was promoted by Microsoft for many years), the following actually solves the problem in a kind of generic way.

  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="App.config" 
           Pack="true" 
           PackagePath="contentFiles/any/any/$(TargetFileName).config"
           PackageCopyToOutput="true">
      <SubType>Designer</SubType>
    </None>
  </ItemGroup>

[sthames42]

@pfeigl, your solution worked--thanks for that. But while the .dll.config file was copied to the bin folder of the consuming project, if that project is consumed by another, the config file is NOT copied to the parent bin folder even though the .dll and .pdb files are copied.

Any idea how to make it transitive.