nuget.exe restore works, and the automatic restore in VS causes build failures

[AArnott]

I believe this is a regression in 15.6

nuget.exe v4.3.0
VS d15.6 27401.0

git clone https://devdiv.visualstudio.com/DefaultCollection/Personal/_git/VS-Platform.andarno
cd vs-platform
git co 06ce2c7ba2005a4c17efd711c1dc51773958c761
.\init -feature connectedservices
cd src\ConnectedServices\test\ConnServ.UnitTests
msbuild

When following these steps, the build should succeed.

But when you open the src\ConnectedServices\ConnectedServices.sln solution in VS and build, automatic package restore occurs, and screws up the ConnServ.UnitTests project's restored files and the build for that project ends up breaking due to missing references.

At this point, even command line builds fail. But if you run nuget restore at the command line for that project and then retry the build from the command line, it works again. But if you try to build from VS, then once again automatic package restore steps in and breaks the build again.

The project.assets.json for the broken project is very different (and much smaller) than the same file when it works properly as restored from the command line. The two files are attached below:
ConnServ.UnitTests.zip

[nkolev92]

From the assets file it seems like the project references are not being resolved in VS.
//cc
@emgarten

[nkolev92]

@AArnott I was not able to reproduce the issue the way you describe it with 27404.4.d15.6
Latest stable from Preview 4 of d15.6.

I do still see discrepancies in the assets files but they're super weird.

Namely it's project versions and an extra package in the project, Microsoft.VisualStudio.ConnectedServices.Package2, when run in CommandLine,

"Microsoft.VSSDK.BuildTools": "15.6.150"

Versioning:

      "Microsoft.VisualStudio.ConnectedServices >= 15.7.34-preview-g2147761e90",

vs

      "Microsoft.VisualStudio.ConnectedServices >= 1.0.0",

I also see a discrepancy in the project name.
VS:

      "projectName": "ConnServ.UnitTests",

Commandline

      "projectName": "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Nonshipping.ConnectedServices.UnitTests",

Do any of these differences ring a bell?

[AArnott]

The 1.0.0 version issue is probably due to #4790
It only manifests for this repo the very first time you run restore. After that, restores in that repo should have the right version.

For ConnServ.UnitTests vs. Microsoft.VisualStudio.Nonshipping.ConnectedServices.UnitTests, the former is the name of the project while the latter is the name of the assembly it produces.

Microsoft.VSSDK.BuildTools is imported directly in ConnectedServices.Package2.csproj. It is also conditionally brought in by a Directory.Build.targets file based on the $(VSToolsPath) property being defined.

Does that help?

[AArnott]

Incidentally, it doesn't repro for me with d15.6 27404.0 either.
I'll leave it to you to determine whether there's something worth pursuing here.
Thanks.

[nkolev92]

Yeah that makes sense.

Since it's not breaking your build currently, I'll just consider it a lower priority, but I'd still like to investigate a bit more, as part of the drive to minimize differences among VS and CLI to eliminate unneeded restores.

[martinsuchan]

Hi, any chance this is related to my issue with broken NuGet restore since VS 15.6 Preview 4?
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/195751/nuget-broken-in-vs-2017-156-preview-4-error-0x8000.html

[nkolev92]

@martinsuchan
I don't think so.
They issue you're hitting is a generic error to me. It's very unlikely it's related to NuGet.

I think 15.6 - preview 5 is out thoguh, can you please try that?

[nkolev92]

Probably related to #9417 and/or #9864