MSTest as GlobalPackageReference

[bollhals]

Hi

I'm switching to centralized package management and thought it would be a good idea to replace my MSTest PackageReference (<PackageReference Include="MSTest" Version="3.8.3" />) from all tests projects to use a GlobalPackageReference (<GlobalPackageReference Include="MSTest" Version="3.8.3" />.

Unfortunately that does not seem to work, as it now complains about not finding some types and I wasn't able to figure out why, does anyone know what I'm missing?

Thanks!

[nohwnd]

Looking. The global reference does not get the build files or the assemblies:

Normal package ref (or central management PackageVersion -> PackageReference) works:

GlobalPackageReference does not work:

[Youssef1313]

As @nohwnd pointed out, GlobalPackageReference doesn't get compile assets.

Per documentation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/consume-packages/Central-Package-Management#global-package-references

GlobalPackageReferences are converted to PackageReference with:

IncludeAssets="Runtime;Build;Native;contentFiles;Analyzers"

which doesn't include compile assets. Note: Compile assets are basically the dlls in lib folder.

The doc says:

This ensures that the package is only used as a development dependency and prevents any compile-time assembly references.

So that seems like a very intentional design of GlobalPackageReference.

[nohwnd]

Yeah, I think there is some other problem, because build is not included either. I am currently digging into build logs, to see if that is bug, or intentional.

In any case that naming and description on the GlobalPackageReference seems confusing, because in that case it should be GlobalDevPackageReference, if it does not get just expanded to totally normal PackageReference on each project.

A global package reference is used to specify that a package will be used by every project in a repository. This includes packages that do versioning, extend your build, or any other packages that are needed by all projects.

The bold part is what is confusing here.

[nohwnd]

It seems that nuget does not import any of the targets from child packages, in file S:\t\TestProject124\TestProject124\obj\TestProject124.csproj.nuget.g.targets that is imported via wildcard from additional providers. In Microsoft.Common.targets:

<!--
      Prepare to import project extensions which usually come from packages.  Package management systems will create a file at:
          $(MSBuildProjectExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildProjectFile).<SomethingUnique>.targets

        Each package management system should use a unique moniker to avoid collisions.  It is a wild-card import so the package
        management system can write out multiple files but the order of the import is alphabetic because MSBuild sorts the list.
  -->

Healthy import with normal package reference:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="14.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ImportGroup Condition=" '$(ExcludeRestorePackageImports)' != 'true' ">
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)mstest.analyzers\3.8.3\buildTransitive\MSTest.Analyzers.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)mstest.analyzers\3.8.3\buildTransitive\MSTest.Analyzers.targets')" />
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)mstest.testframework\3.8.3\buildTransitive\net9.0\MSTest.TestFramework.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)mstest.testframework\3.8.3\buildTransitive\net9.0\MSTest.TestFramework.targets')" />
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.testing.platform\1.6.3\buildTransitive\net9.0\Microsoft.Testing.Platform.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.testing.platform\1.6.3\buildTransitive\net9.0\Microsoft.Testing.Platform.targets')" />
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.testing.platform.msbuild\1.6.3\buildTransitive\Microsoft.Testing.Platform.MSBuild.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.testing.platform.msbuild\1.6.3\buildTransitive\Microsoft.Testing.Platform.MSBuild.targets')" />
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)mstest.testadapter\3.8.3\buildTransitive\net9.0\MSTest.TestAdapter.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)mstest.testadapter\3.8.3\buildTransitive\net9.0\MSTest.TestAdapter.targets')" />
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.testing.extensions.codecoverage\17.13.1\buildTransitive\net6.0\Microsoft.Testing.Extensions.CodeCoverage.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.testing.extensions.codecoverage\17.13.1\buildTransitive\net6.0\Microsoft.Testing.Extensions.CodeCoverage.targets')" />
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.codecoverage\17.13.0\build\netstandard2.0\Microsoft.CodeCoverage.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.codecoverage\17.13.0\build\netstandard2.0\Microsoft.CodeCoverage.targets')" />
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.net.test.sdk\17.13.0\build\netcoreapp3.1\Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.net.test.sdk\17.13.0\build\netcoreapp3.1\Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk.targets')" />
  </ImportGroup>
</Project>

Unhealthy import with global reference: Microsoft.Net.Test.Sdk has build targets directly in the package.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="14.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ImportGroup Condition=" '$(ExcludeRestorePackageImports)' != 'true' ">
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.codecoverage\17.13.0\build\netstandard2.0\Microsoft.CodeCoverage.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.codecoverage\17.13.0\build\netstandard2.0\Microsoft.CodeCoverage.targets')" />
    <Import Project="$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.net.test.sdk\17.13.0\build\netcoreapp3.1\Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk.targets" Condition="Exists('$(NuGetPackageRoot)microsoft.net.test.sdk\17.13.0\build\netcoreapp3.1\Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk.targets')" />
  </ImportGroup>
</Project>

[Youssef1313]

I don't think IncludeAssets can be used on GlobalPackageReference. The Runtime;Build;Native;contentFiles;Analyzers is basically forced on you.

The comment on the implementation is probably much more clearer than the documentation:

https://github.com/NuGet/NuGet.Client/blob/ccb6097e8ffda05b7629cb2cbd7a5b6482e6e91e/src/NuGet.Core/NuGet.Build.Tasks/NuGet.targets#L124-L138

Global package references only include the same assets as a development dependency (runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers) because those kind of packages are the best candidate for a global package reference. They are generally packages that extend the build.

[nohwnd]

NuGet/Home#13522 (comment) there is this comment which describes how to fix, it using the same source you are linking. Following the advice there, will make the project work. Attached an example project where it works.

TestProject124.zip

To me the naming is pretty unfortunate, and I would not expecte that global package reference is different from package reference, same as I would not expect global using to have different effect than normal using, but for all.

Here is how the project looks like for future reference.

This needs to be fixed or better documented on Nuget side, I've summarized my view in this nuget issue: NuGet/Home#14223

[bollhals]

Oh okay, well yes, that would explain what I see!
Definately a bit confusing from the documentation point of view of GlobalPackageReference.

Thank you for analysis!

[nohwnd]

--- moved to the answer above ---

[nohwnd]

--- moved to the answer above ---

[nohwnd]

Not sure if you followed the linked issue, but the recommendation is that you use Directory.Build.props and define a PackageReference there, to get a global, normally behaving package reference that is propagated to every project.

The team will work on improving the docs around GlobalPackageReference to better communicate the intent of the feature.

[rickyno]

@nohwnd Your fix makes it work fine, it does causes the PrivateAssets and IncludeAssets to be specified for every package, but I think with a few conditions checks this can be resolved.

	<PackageReference Update="(packageid)">
		<PrivateAssets>contentfiles; analyzers</PrivateAssets>
		<IncludeAssets>runtime; compile; build; native; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
	</PackageReference>	 

Thanks for this workaround, appreciate it.