Search code examples
tfsmsbuildcontinuous-integrationtfsbuild

Deployed dll file is not the one built by TFS

I have a TFS 2013 build definition that recently started to act strange. Its been doing its job for over a year now without any problems.

It builds 4 different projects. Two of them are asp.net mvc/webapi projects which also are deployed via msdeploy to two separate websites on the same QA staging web server. The build is configured to use Release|Any CPU

When the build runs the dll version is set using the ApplyVersionToAssemblys powershell script.

In the build folder all the assemblies have the correct version. But in one of the deployed web sites one of the dll files "WebUI.dll" has version number 1.0.0.0 ie not the same as the same dll in build directory has which is 4.0.buildnumber

The deployed "WebUI.dll" also seems to be built in Debug mode becuase some buttons and actions are only displayed when DEBUG is defined.

If I copy the built WebUI.dll from build directory or even the PublishedWebsites directory everything works as expected.

So my question is how can MSDeploy via MSBuild create its "own" version of the WebUI.dll? (And no - the Define DEBUG constant checkbox is not checked in Release mode). The version 1.0.0 WebUI.dll cant be found anywhere on the server so I guess it must be "created" when msdeploy runs?

(The only change I've made recently is to add a new build definition which builds the same solution and runs all tests but does not deploy anything.)

UPDATE: I tried to publish from VS using the same publish profile used by the build process and that works as expected. The WebUI.dll deployed is built in release mode. The version is not applied becuase that is part of the build process but the important thing is that its the Release mode dll that is deployed and not Debug which is the case when the buildprocess does the deploy. I also tried creating a web deploy package and installed that on the local server with the same result.

So the problem is still that the WebUI.dll built in the build process is correct (Release mode and correct versioning) - but gets "replaced" during the deploy on the build server by a Debug mode and without versoning

UPDATE 2; Msbuild cmd

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\bin\amd64\MSBuild.exe /nologo /noconsolelogger "C:\Builds\2\Products\SomeApp4.Main\src\SomeApp4\Main\Source\SomeApp4.Web.sln" /nr:False /fl /flp:"logfile=C:\Builds\2\Products\SomeApp4.Main\src\SomeApp4\Main\Source\SomeApp4.Web.log;encoding=Unicode;verbosity=normal" /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile=Chicago /p:AllowUntrustedCertificate=true /p:Password=bw /m /p:OutDir="C:\Builds\2\Products\SomeApp4.Main\bin\SomeApp4.Web\\" /p:Configuration="Release" /p:Platform="Any CPU" /p:VCBuildOverride="C:\Builds\2\Products\SomeApp4.Main\src\SomeApp4\Main\Source\SomeApp4.Web.sln.Any CPU.Release.vsprops" /dl:WorkflowCentralLogger,"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 12.0\Tools\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Server.Logger.dll";"Verbosity=Normal;BuildUri=vstfs:///Build/Build/740;IgnoreDuplicateProjects=False;InformationNodeId=14;TargetsNotLogged=GetNativeManifest,GetCopyToOutputDirectoryItems,GetTargetPath;LogProjectNodes=True;LogWarnings=True;TFSUrl=http://boston.SomeCompany.local:8080/tfs/SomeCompany;"*WorkflowForwardingLogger,"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 12.0\Tools\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Server.Logger.dll";"Verbosity=Normal;" /p:BuildId="abd7db3d-4ff8-43b4-ab36-f35c6f6e5697,vstfs:///Build/Build/740" /p:BuildLabel="SomeApp4.Main_4.0.6.740_20160121_103558" /p:BuildTimestamp="Thu, 21 Jan 2016 09:35:59 GMT" /p:BuildSourceVersion="LSomeApp4.Main_4.0.6.740_20160121_103558@$/Products" /p:BuildDefinition="SomeApp4.Main"
Solution

  • I found the problem.

    The build definition builds 4 solutions where one is the WebUI(aspnet mvc) solution and one is an Api solution (asp.net WebApi)

    In the Api solution a project was referencing the WebUI project but the WebUI project wasnt in the Api solution.

    MSbuild resolved the WebUI project anyways so there were no errors and build + deploy of the api solution worked. But the WebUI project was built in debug mode since it has no solution configuration in Api solution I guess

    The problem when msbuild ran the api solution with deploy flag it also managed to deploy the WebUI project built in debug.

    So the WebUI project was deployed twice. First the correct one from the WebUI solution and then the wrong debug WebUI compiled with the Api solution.

    Doh! Is all I have to say about that.

    Thanks for your help guys.