Azure DevOps Pipelines - .artifactignore not working properly with pipeline artifact

Question

I need once more your swarm intelligence with this issue.

Background: I publish powershell modules to azure artifacts using azure pipelines (like this https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/artifacts/tutorials/private-powershell-library?view=azure-devops&tabs=windows). I have different files (Folder: build_scripts) in my repository that i do not want to publish to azure artifacts. So i came to .artifactignore

Current situation: No mather what i try the files in the folder "build_scripts" stays part of the artifact.

Let me show: My Repository:

Pipeline yaml:

  - main

name: 'PowerShell Module Project'

variables:
  major: 1
  minor: 0
  patch: $(Build.BuildID)
  buildVer: $(major).$(minor).$(Build.BuildID)

pool: DevPool

stages:
- stage: Build
  jobs:
  - job: Build
    steps:
    - task: PowerShell@2
      inputs:
        filePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/build_scripts/build.ps1'
    - task: NuGetCommand@2
      inputs:
        command: 'pack'
        packagesToPack: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/PowerShellModuleProject.nuspec'
        versioningScheme: byEnvVar
        versionEnvVar: buildVer
        buildProperties: 'VERSIONHERE=$(buildVer)'
    - task: CopyFiles@2   
      displayName: 'Copy .artifactignore'   
      inputs:     
        SourceFolder: '$(build.sourcesdirectory)'     
        Contents: '**/.artifactignore'     
        TargetFolder: '$(build.artifactstagingdirectory)'     
        flattenFolders: true
    - task: PublishPipelineArtifact@1
      inputs:
        targetPath: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
        artifactName: 'NuGetPackage'
        publishLocation: 'pipeline'
- stage: Deploy
  jobs:
  - job: Deploy
    steps:
      - task: DownloadPipelineArtifact@2
        inputs:
          buildType: 'current'
          artifactName: 'NuGetPackage'
          itemPattern: '**'
          targetPath: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)'
      - task: NuGetCommand@2
        inputs:
          command: 'push'
          packagesToPush: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/**/*$(buildVer).nupkg'
          nuGetFeedType: 'internal'
          publishVstsFeed: 'MYProjectName/MyPipelineName' 

My .artifactignore file:

build_scripts/**

The artifactignore file is in the correct directory using the copy job, like suggested here on stack overflow (PublishPipelineArtifact .artifact ignore not recognized). This can also be verified when i take a look at the pipeline run log:

Using .artifactignore file located at: C:\agent\vsts-agent-win-x64-3.232.0\_work\3\a\.artifactignore for globbing
2 files processed.

But at the end, when i install the powershell module from the repository, the files in the build_scripts are still present

Now i ran out of ideas. Does anyone have a hint what i am doing wrong here ?

Thanks in advance

Requested additional information from Kevin Lu-MSFT:

Screenshot of the artifact content:

Pipeline log -> Publish Pipeline artifacts:

Starting: PublishPipelineArtifact
==============================================================================
Task         : Publish Pipeline Artifacts
Description  : Publish (upload) a file or directory as a named artifact for the current run
Version      : 1.199.0
Author       : Microsoft Corporation
Help         : https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/tasks/utility/publish-pipeline-artifact
==============================================================================
Artifact name input: NuGetPackage
Uploading pipeline artifact from C:\agent\vsts-agent-win-x64-3.232.0\_work\3\a for build #36
Using default max parallelism.
Max dedup parallelism: 192
DomainId: 0
ApplicationInsightsTelemetrySender will correlate events with X-TFS-Session a79f1780-5577-434e-9f9e-3f5e8b41c6ab
Hashtype: Dedup1024K
DedupManifestArtifactClient will correlate http requests with X-TFS-Session a79f1780-5577-434e-9f9e-3f5e8b41c6ab
Using .artifactignore file located at: C:\agent\vsts-agent-win-x64-3.232.0\_work\3\a\.artifactignore for globbing
2 files processed.
Processed 2 files from C:\agent\vsts-agent-win-x64-3.232.0\_work\3\a successfully.
Uploaded 48,185 out of 48,185 bytes
Content upload is done!

Content upload statistics:
Total Content: 96.0 KB
Physical Content Uploaded: 41.4 KB
Logical Content Uploaded: 48.2 KB
Compression Saved: 6.8 KB
Deduplication Saved: 47.9 KB
Number of Chunks Uploaded: 3
Total Number of Chunks: 5

Associated artifact 22 with build 36
ApplicationInsightsTelemetrySender correlated 2 events with X-TFS-Session a79f1780-5577-434e-9f9e-3f5e8b41c6ab
Uploading pipeline artifact finished.
Finishing: PublishPipelineArtifact

Answer 1

From your screenshot, the build_scripts folder doesn't exist in the Pipeline Artifacts content.

This means that the build_scripts folder has been added to the nuget package when running the Nuget Pack task.

In this case, when you download the nuget package, it will still contains the build_scripts folder.

Refer to this doc: Use .artifactignore

The .artifactignore is a text file that controls which files are uploaded when you publish a Universal Package or a Pipeline Artifact.

So the .artifactignore will not work when running the nuget pack task.

To solve this issue, you can refer to the following methods:

Method1: you can add the -Exclude argument in the Nuget pack task to exclude the build_scripts folder.

For example:

name: 'PowerShell Module Project'

variables:
  major: 1
  minor: 0
  patch: $(Build.BuildID)
  buildVer: $(major).$(minor).$(Build.BuildID)

pool: DevPool

stages:
- stage: Build
  jobs:
  - job: Build
    steps:
    - task: PowerShell@2
      inputs:
        filePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/build_scripts/build.ps1'
    - task: NuGetCommand@2
      displayName: 'NuGet custom'
      inputs:
        command: custom
        arguments: 'pack $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/PowerShellModuleProject.nuspec  -NonInteractive -OutputDirectory $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory) -Properties VERSIONHERE=$(buildVer) -version $(buildVer) -Exclude "build_scripts/*"'
    - task: CopyFiles@2   
      displayName: 'Copy .artifactignore'   
      inputs:     
        SourceFolder: '$(build.sourcesdirectory)'     
        Contents: '**/.artifactignore'     
        TargetFolder: '$(build.artifactstagingdirectory)'     
        flattenFolders: true
    - task: PublishPipelineArtifact@1
      inputs:
        targetPath: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
        artifactName: 'NuGetPackage'
        publishLocation: 'pipeline'
- stage: Deploy
  jobs:
  - job: Deploy
    steps:
      - task: DownloadPipelineArtifact@2
        inputs:
          buildType: 'current'
          artifactName: 'NuGetPackage'
          itemPattern: '**'
          targetPath: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)'
      - task: NuGetCommand@2
        inputs:
          command: 'push'
          packagesToPush: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/**/*$(buildVer).nupkg'
          nuGetFeedType: 'internal'
          publishVstsFeed: 'MYProjectName/MyPipelineName' 

Method2: you can use the nuget pack command in the deploy stage. And in the build stage, you can publish all files to pipelines artifacts(use .artifactignore to exclude build_script file).

For example:

name: 'PowerShell Module Project'

variables:
  major: 1
  minor: 0
  patch: $(Build.BuildID)
  buildVer: $(major).$(minor).$(Build.BuildID)

pool: DevPool

stages:
- stage: Build
  jobs:
  - job: Build
    steps:
    - task: PowerShell@2
      inputs:
        filePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/build_scripts/build.ps1'
    - task: PublishPipelineArtifact@1
      inputs:
        targetPath: '$(Build.sourcesdirectory)'
        artifactName: 'NuGetPackage'
        publishLocation: 'pipeline'
- stage: Deploy
  jobs:
  - job: Deploy
    steps:
      - task: DownloadPipelineArtifact@2
        inputs:
          buildType: 'current'
          artifactName: 'NuGetPackage'
          itemPattern: '**'
          targetPath: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)'
      - task: NuGetCommand@2
        inputs:
          command: 'pack'
          packagesToPack: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/PowerShellModuleProject.nuspec'
          versioningScheme: byEnvVar
          versionEnvVar: buildVer
          buildProperties: 'VERSIONHERE=$(buildVer)'
          packDestination: $(Pipeline.Workspace)
      - task: NuGetCommand@2
        inputs:
          command: 'push'
          packagesToPush: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/*$(buildVer).nupkg'
          nuGetFeedType: 'internal'
          publishVstsFeed: 'MYProjectName/MyPipelineName'