Visual Studio Rebuilds projects when switching from debug to release and vice-versa when option XML documentation is selected

I've a very similar problem than described in the following question
Visual Studio C# projects force a rebuild when switching from debug to release and vice-versa.

I've C# two projects and one has project reference to the other.
If I build (F6) in Debug and than I build (F6) in Release. If I now switch back to Debug and build (F6) it should be up to date.

That's is actually the case. So I can see that in the bin/Debug folder the file date and the assembly version are not changing.

But if I switch on the XML documentation file for the project which has project reference to the other under Project Properties / Build / Output for both configurations (Debug and Release) then the projects gets rebuild every time I switch from Debug to Release or vice-versa.

To recreate the issue:

File

New Project...

Visual C#

Console Application

Add

New Project...

Visual C#

Class Library

ConsoleApplication1

Add Reference...

ClassLibrary1

Solution

Projects

OK

XML documentation file

ConsoleApplication1

Properties

Build

Output

Debug

Release

Debug

Release

Debug

I'm getting the following build output:

1>------ Build started: Project: ConsoleApplication1, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
1>Build started 07.09.2018 13:46:43.
1>GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute:
1>Skipping target "GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
1>CoreCompile:
1> C:Program Files (x86)MSBuild12.0binCsc.exe /noconfig /nowarn:1701,1702,2008 /nostdlib+ /platform:anycpu32bitpreferred /errorreport:prompt /warn:4 /doc:binDebugConsoleApplication1.XML /define:DEBUG;TRACE /errorendlocation /preferreduilang:en-US /highentropyva+ /reference:H:CSharpTestRebuildClassLibrary1binDebugClassLibrary1.dll /reference:"C:Program Files (x86)Reference AssembliesMicrosoftFramework.NETFrameworkv4.5Microsoft.CSharp.dll" /reference:"C:Program Files (x86)Reference AssembliesMicrosoftFramework.NETFrameworkv4.5mscorlib.dll" /reference:"C:Program Files (x86)Reference AssembliesMicrosoftFramework.NETFrameworkv4.5System.Core.dll" /reference:"C:Program Files (x86)Reference AssembliesMicrosoftFramework.NETFrameworkv4.5System.Data.DataSetExtensions.dll" /reference:"C:Program Files (x86)Reference AssembliesMicrosoftFramework.NETFrameworkv4.5System.Data.dll" /reference:"C:Program Files (x86)Reference AssembliesMicrosoftFramework.NETFrameworkv4.5System.dll" /reference:"C:Program Files (x86)Reference AssembliesMicrosoftFramework.NETFrameworkv4.5System.Xml.dll" /reference:"C:Program Files (x86)Reference AssembliesMicrosoftFramework.NETFrameworkv4.5System.Xml.Linq.dll" /debug+ /debug:full /filealign:512 /optimize- /out:objDebugConsoleApplication1.exe /subsystemversion:6.00 /target:exe /utf8output Program.cs PropertiesAssemblyInfo.cs "C:UsersWOAppDataLocalTemp.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.AssemblyAttributes.cs" objDebug\TemporaryGeneratedFile_E7A71F73-0F8D-4B9B-B56E-8E70B10BC5D3.cs objDebug\TemporaryGeneratedFile_036C0B5B-1481-4323-8D20-8F5ADCB23D92.cs objDebug\TemporaryGeneratedFile_5937a670-0e60-4077-877b-f7221da3dda1.cs
1>_CopyAppConfigFile:
1>Skipping target "_CopyAppConfigFile" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
1>CopyFilesToOutputDirectory:
1> Copying file from "objDebugConsoleApplication1.exe" to "binDebugConsoleApplication1.exe".
1> ConsoleApplication1 -> H:CSharpTestRebuildConsoleApplication1binDebugConsoleApplication1.exe
1>
1>Build succeeded.
1>
1>Time Elapsed 00:00:00.41
========== Build: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 1 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========


If XML documentation file is switched off I'm getting the following build output (it skips the CoreCompile as it should):

XML documentation file

1>------ Build started: Project: ConsoleApplication1, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
1>Build started 07.09.2018 13:50:17.
1>GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute:
1>Skipping target "GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
1>CoreCompile:
1>Skipping target "CoreCompile" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
1>_CopyAppConfigFile:
1>Skipping target "_CopyAppConfigFile" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
1>CopyFilesToOutputDirectory:
1> ConsoleApplication1 -> H:CSharpTestRebuildConsoleApplication1binDebugConsoleApplication1.exe
1>
1>Build succeeded.
1>
1>Time Elapsed 00:00:00.07
========== Build: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 1 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========


Is this a bug? Is there a workaround?

1 Answer
1

Visual Studio Rebuilds projects when switching from debug to release and vice-versa when option XML documentation is selected

Yes, this is a known issue for Visual Studio 2013 and Visual Studio 2015. It's just a faint shock that would not affect our build results except for the extra 0.00001 second execution time.

And this issue has been fixed in the Visual Studio 2017 version 15.6. I have test it on the latest version in Visual Studio 2017 15.8.2 (Current), it works as expected.

You can find the UseSymboliclinksIfPossible="$(CreateSymbolicLinksForCopyFilesToOutputDirectoryIfPossible)" was added to the copy task in the target CopyFilesToOutputDirectory in the file Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets:

UseSymboliclinksIfPossible="$(CreateSymbolicLinksForCopyFilesToOutputDirectoryIfPossible)"

CopyFilesToOutputDirectory

Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets

<Copy
SourceFiles="@(IntermediateAssembly)"
DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)"
SkipUnchangedFiles="$(SkipCopyUnchangedFiles)"
OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="$(OverwriteReadOnlyFiles)"
Retries="$(CopyRetryCount)"
RetryDelayMilliseconds="$(CopyRetryDelayMilliseconds)"
UseHardlinksIfPossible="$(CreateHardLinksForCopyFilesToOutputDirectoryIfPossible)"
UseSymboliclinksIfPossible="$(CreateSymbolicLinksForCopyFilesToOutputDirectoryIfPossible)"
Condition="'$(CopyBuildOutputToOutputDirectory)' == 'true' and '$(SkipCopyBuildProduct)' != 'true'"
>

<Output TaskParameter="DestinationFiles" ItemName="MainAssembly"/>
<Output TaskParameter="DestinationFiles" ItemName="FileWrites"/>

</Copy>


If this bug affects your work, you can update your Visual Studio to the 2017.

Hope this helps.

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