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c#asp.net-core.net-core

Absolute path in dotnet watch run command doesn't work

To run dotnet core application with specified absolute path we need to run following command:

dotnet run -p C:\foo\bar\Project\Project.csproj

But it seems it doesn't work the same with dotnet watch run:

watch : Could not find a MSBuild project file in 'C:\directory\where\we\execute\command'. Specify which project to use with the --project option.

Running the same command with -project instead of -p doesn't help however...

Dotnet watch help specifies -p or -project parameter anyway:

Microsoft DotNet File Watcher 2.1.1-rtm-30846

Usage: dotnet watch [options] [[--] ...]

Options: -?|-h|--help Show help information
-p|--project The project to watch -q|--quiet Suppresses all output except warnings and errors -v|--verbose
Show verbose output --list Lists all discovered files without starting the watcher --version Show version information

Environment variables:

DOTNET_USE_POLLING_FILE_WATCHER When set to '1' or 'true', dotnet-watch will poll the file system for changes. This is required for some file systems, such as network shares, Docker mounted volumes, and other virtual file systems.

DOTNET_WATCH dotnet-watch sets this variable to '1' on all child processes launched.

Remarks: The special option '--' is used to delimit the end of the options and the beginning of arguments that will be passed to the child dotnet process. Its use is optional. When the special option '--' is not used, dotnet-watch will use the first unrecognized argument as the beginning of all arguments passed into the child dotnet process.

For example: dotnet watch -- --verbose run

Even though '--verbose' is an option dotnet-watch supports, the use of '--' indicates that '--verbose' should be treated instead as an argument for dotnet-run.

Examples: dotnet watch run dotnet watch test

What's wrong then? Why absolute path to project doesn't work with dotnet watch run while works with dotnet run?

Solution

  • You need to specify the --project option on the watch command rather than on the run command:

    dotnet watch --project C:\foo\bar\Project\Project.csproj run

    There's a note in the docs that covers this:

    You can use dotnet watch --project <PROJECT> to specify a project to watch. For example, running dotnet watch --project WebApp run from the root of the sample app will also run and watch the WebApp project.