mishrsud/cake-build

Demonstrates a basic build of a .NET Core NuGet package using https://cakebuild.net/

Cake build

Package	Release	Pre-release
Contoso.Hello.Logic
Contoso.Hello.SuperLogic

CI	Status	Platform(s)	Framework(s)	Test Framework(s)
AppVeyor		Windows	netstandard2.0, net461	netcoreapp2.2.0, net461
Azure DevOps		Linux	netstandard2.0	netcoreapp2.2.0
CircleCI		Docker: microsoft/dotnet:2.2.103-sdk-bionic	netstandard2.0	netcoreapp2.2.0
Travis CI		Linux, OS X	netstandard2.0	netcoreapp2.2.0

Demonstrates a basic build of a .NET Core NuGet package using Cake.

I tried to create a somewhat realistic scenario without writing too much code:

• The solution contains two projects which will be packed as NuGet packages.
  • The SuperLogic project depends from Logic and when packing this project reference will be turned into a NuGet package reference (handled out of the box by dotnet pack).
  • The Logic project references a NuGet package from nuget.org via a PackageReference, dotnet pack will turn this into a package reference.
• The projects target both netstandard2.0 and net461 so they can be used with the .NET Framework (net461 and above).
• The solution contains a test project.
• Use SemVer to version the DLLs and the NuGet packages.
  • Note: SemVer is implemented via GitVersion.

I wrote a detailed blog post about this experiment.

Running locally

Pre-requisites

• .NET Core SDK v2.2.103 and higher

Initial setup on Windows

.\bootstrap.ps1

Initial setup on Linux / OS X

./bootstrap.sh

Run build script

dotnet cake build.cake

Benefits over a nuspec file

• A single file describing the package and the project instead of two (*.csproj and *.nuspec)
• References (projects or NuGet packages) are resolved automatically. There is no need to tweak a file manually anymore!

Referencing a project without turning it into a package reference

The SuperLogic project depends on the ExtraLogic project but we don't want to ship ExtraLogic as a package. Instead we want to include Contoso.Hello.ExtraLogic.dll in the SuperLogic package directly. Currently this is not supported out of the box but the team is tracking it.

Luckily this issue provides a workaround. All the modifications will take place in SuperLogic.csproj.

• In the <PropertyGroup> section add the following line:

<TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput);IncludeReferencedProjectInPackage</TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>

• Prevent the project to be added as a package reference by making all assets private.

<ProjectReference Include="..\ExtraLogic\ExtraLogic.csproj">
  <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
</ProjectReference>

• Finally add the target responsible of copying the DLL:

<Target Name="IncludeReferencedProjectInPackage">
  <ItemGroup>
    <BuildOutputInPackage Include="$(OutputPath)Contoso.Hello.ExtraLogic.dll" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Target>

Pinning the version of Cake

Pinning the version of Cake guarantees you'll be using the same version of Cake on your machine and in the build server.

CI

Each time a commit is pushed to master or features/*; AppVeyor, Azure DevOps, CircleCI and Travis CI will build the changes.

In case of a successful build AppVeyor will:

• On master
  • Create a GitHub release
  • Publish the NuGet packages (including symbols) to gabrielweyer feed
• On features/*
  • Create a GitHub pre-release
  • Publish the NuGet packages (including symbols) to gabrielweyer-pre-release feed

AppVeyor

Build status is visible here.

• Windows and Linux
• Can target both .NET Core and .NET Framework when running on Windows
  • For this reason we'll publish the NuGet packages using AppVeyor
• Can create a GitHub release and tag the repository if required
• Supports artifacts and test results
• You can modify AppVeyor's build number programatically
  • Cake integrates with AppVeyor: publish test results, upload artifacts, update build number...
• Supports files exclusion

Azure DevOps

Build status is visible here.

• Linux, OS X and Windows
• Can target both .NET Core and .NET Framework when running on Windows
• Supports artifacts and test results
• Supports files exclusion

CircleCI

Build status is visible here.

• Linux and OS X
• Build in Docker containers
• Supports artifacts and test results
  • Test results have to be in JUnit format, you can use the package dotnet-xunit-to-junit to do the transformation
• Can't exclude files easily

Travis CI

Build status is visible here.

Travis CI has a few limitations:

• Linux and OS X only so you can't build any net* Frameworks
  • For this reason I'm not publishing the NuGet packages from Travis CI
  • build.cake has been modified
    • Targets netstandard2.0 / netcoreapp2.2.0 only on Travis (search for TravisCI.IsRunningOnTravisCI)
• Doesn't parse test result files
• Artifacts have to be uploaded to S3
• Can't exclude files easily

Status checks

The master branch is protected:

• Force push is disabled on master
• master cannot be deleted
• Non-protected branches (such as features/*) cannot be merged into master until they satisfy:
  • An AppVeyor passing build
  • A Travis passing build
  • A CircleCI passing build

After a branch was configured as protected, GitHub will suggest available status checks.