.NET Template Engine: Post-Action Fails with Missing 'executable' Argument

[ulfbou]

Describe the bug

The .NET template engine fails to execute post-creation actions defined in a template.json file. The error message consistently reports "Failed to run the command: argument 'executable' is missing in post action configuration," even when the executable property is explicitly defined in the postActions section of the template.json. This occurs with both custom bash scripts and built-in commands like echo.

To Reproduce

1. Create a new empty folder, e.g., TestTemplate.

2. Inside TestTemplate, create a folder .template.config.

3. Inside .template.config, create a file named template.json with the following content:

   {
     "$schema": "[http://json.schemastore.org/template](http://json.schemastore.org/template)",
     "identity": "Test.PostAction",
     "name": "Test Post Action",
     "shortName": "test-post",
     "sources": [
       {
         "source": "./content"
       }
     ],
     "postActions": [
       {
         "actionId": "testAction",
         "description": "Run echo command",
         "manualInstructions": [],
         "executable": "echo",
         "script": "Hello from minimal post-action!",
         "continueOnError": true
       }
     ]
   }

4. Inside TestTemplate, create an empty folder named content.

5. Navigate to the TestTemplate directory in your terminal (e.g., PowerShell, Command Prompt, Git Bash).

6. Install the template: dotnet new install .

7. Navigate to a different directory.

8. Create a new project using the template: dotnet new test-post -o TestOutput

9. When prompted to run the post-creation action, select y.

Alternatively, you can reproduce the bug with the following repository: https://github.com/ulfbou/Zentient.Templates/tree/master/templates/CleanArch

Exceptions (if any)

The following error message is displayed in the terminal after selecting 'y' to run the post-creation action:

Failed to run the command: argument 'executable' is missing in post action configuration.Post action failed.
No other exceptions or stack traces are provided.

Further technical details

• Operating System: Windows 10 PRO

• .NET SDK Version(s) Tested: 8.0.408 and 9.0.203

• IDE: Visual Studio Community 2022 17.13.6

• Are you using a global.json file? Yes, to explicitly target SDK 8.0.408 during one of the test attempts. The issue was also observed without a global.json when the active SDK was 9.0.203.

• Have you tried a system reboot? Yes, the issue persists after a reboot.

• Have you checked environment variables for potential conflicts? Yes, no obvious conflicts related to command execution were found.

• Have you temporarily disabled antivirus software? Yes, the issue persists with antivirus temporarily disabled.

• Output of dotnet --info:

  .NET SDK:
   Version:         9.0.203
   Commit:          dc7acfa194
   Workload version:  9.0.200-manifests.12d79ccf
   MSBuild version:     17.13.20+a4ef1e90f
  
  Runtime Environment:
   OS Name:         Windows
   OS Version:      10.0.19045
   OS Platform:  Windows
   RID:             win-x64
   Base Path:       C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\9.0.203\
  
  .NET workloads installed:
  There are no installed workloads to display.
  Configured to use loose manifests when installing new manifests.
  
  Host:
   Version:         9.0.4
   Architecture:    x64
   Commit:          f57e6dc747
  
  .NET SDKs installed:
   8.0.408 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
   9.0.203 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  
  .NET runtimes installed:
   Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 8.0.15 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
   Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 9.0.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
   Microsoft.NETCore.App 8.0.15 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
   Microsoft.NETCore.App 9.0.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
   Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 8.0.15 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
   Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 9.0.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  
  Other architectures found:
   x86     [C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet]
    registered at [HKLM\SOFTWARE\dotnet\Setup\InstalledVersions\x86\InstallLocation]
  
  Environment variables:
   Not set
  
  global.json file:
   Not found
  
  Learn more:
   [https://aka.ms/dotnet/info](https://aka.ms/dotnet/info)
  
  Download .NET:
   [https://aka.ms/dotnet/download](https://aka.ms/dotnet/download)