DotNet Pack Not Doing Anything

Question

I am trying to create a nuget package for my web application but it is not producing any .nupkg outputs. I am using Visual Studio 2017 15.3.0.

To create the project I do the following:

File - New - Project,
Visual C# - Web,
Asp.Net Core Web Application,
Web Application

Then I go to a command prompt in the directory with the csproj file in and type: "Dotnet Pack"

I get only the following output:

Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 15.3.409.57025 for .NET Core Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

But no nuget packages are created. I am expecting something like:

Producing Nuget Package "App.1.0.0" for App

Do I need to do anything else eg to the csproj file ?

So you expect to create a nuget package from a website? not saying it's right or wrong, but what would you expect from that package? — hardkoded, Sep 05 '17 at 14:29
Its so that I can produce a Nuget package in TeamCity that can be deployed by Octopus Deploy. Correct me if there is a better way. — Frank Cannon, Sep 05 '17 at 14:44
Octopus Deploy suggests to use `dotnet publish` to generate a published output and then use `octo pack` on that output. Please consult [its documentation](https://octopus.com/docs/guides/deploying-asp.net-core-web-applications). — Martin Ullrich, Sep 05 '17 at 14:51
I am in the same situation as wanting to deploy from vsts builds into managed openshift platform. The managed platform wants to choose the Docker runtime so that a dozen teams don't have to change their Docker files for security patches. Not having a way to deploy an asp.net core website as a package means that I will need to ship zip files around — simbo1905, Oct 21 '17 at 09:02

score 27 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 05 '17 at 14:29

27

Web applications are not packable by default. To change this, modify your csproj file to include this property:

<PropertyGroup>
  <IsPackable>true</IsPackable>
</PropertyGroup>

Note that as of now (2017) there isn't a good story for "library web projects" or web project packages that work for all scenarios you would want to use a NuGet package for. But this property will at least unblock producing a package.

answered Sep 05 '17 at 14:29

Martin Ullrich

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Thanks for your answer. I don't understand your comment though. I'm doing this so that I can produce a Nuget package in TeamCity that can be deployed by Octopus Deploy. Correct me if there is a better way of deploying from Octopus via TeamCity. – Frank Cannon Sep 05 '17 at 14:51
https://octopus.com/docs/guides/deploying-asp.net-core-web-applications – Martin Ullrich Sep 05 '17 at 14:51
1

Considuer using the output of `dotnet publish` to publish an app to get the correct layout. – Martin Ullrich Sep 05 '17 at 14:52
4

This also applies to projects that VS thinks are test projects. – Douglas Gaskell Aug 23 '19 at 23:56
Also applies to Worker projects (``) – Arve Systad Apr 23 '21 at 10:05
This also only works if you have the true element in under its own PropertyGroup. I tried adding it to the main PropertyGroup and it didnt work. go figure – Squibly Apr 05 '23 at 04:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 17 '22 at 13:02

I had the same issue with VS2022, looked at the documentation and noticed they "silently deprecated" the command.

You now should add the following in your .csproj file:

You then generate a package and copy it to the "right" folder by calling

dotnet msbuild -t:pack -property:Configuration=Release "ProjectFile.csproj"

Have a look at the link, the title is a bit confusing but there seemed to have been a change after With MSBuild 15.1+

DotNet Pack Not Doing Anything

2 Answers2