XML documentation files not Published for Dependency DLLS

[scovel]

Details about Problem

When publishing a WebApi that references a dependency NuGet package, the XML comment files for dependency packages are not copied to the Publish folder.

This happens in the official Microsoft Docker builds.

FROM microsoft/dotnet:2.1-sdk AS build-env
ARG VERSION
WORKDIR /app
COPY . ./
RUN dotnet restore
RUN dotnet publish /p:Version=${VERSION} -c Release -o out 
RUN ls -lR ~/.nuget/packages
RUN ls -lR /app/customer/out

The NuGet cache folder contains the following for the dependency package, notice the XML is not extracted.

/root/.nuget/packages/tp.net.core:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 117 Feb 15 13:48 1.0.82

/root/.nuget/packages/tp.net.core/1.0.82:
total 288
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 281585 Feb 15 13:48 tp.net.core.1.0.82.nupkg
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root     88 Feb 15 13:48 tp.net.core.1.0.82.nupkg.sha512
-rwxrw-rw-. 1 root root   4447 Feb 14 14:59 tp.net.core.nuspec
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root     28 Feb 15 13:48 lib

/root/.nuget/packages/tp.net.core/1.0.82/lib:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 54 Feb 15 13:48 netstandard2.0

/root/.nuget/packages/tp.net.core/1.0.82/lib/netstandard2.0:
total 624
-rwxrw-rw-. 1 root root 460800 Feb 14 14:59 TP.Net.Core.dll
-rwxrw-rw-. 1 root root 173892 Feb 14 14:59 TP.Net.Core.pdb

/app/customer/out only contains the DLL and the PDB

I tried microsoft/dotnet:2.1-sdk, microsoft/dotnet:2.1-sdk-alpine, microsoft/dotnet:2.2-sdk, all showed the same behaviour.

Publishing from a Windows Desktop, or MacOs desktop gets the correct result, with the dependency package's XML file extracted and copied into the publish folder

Contents of the nupkg

Metadata:
  id: TP.Net.Core
  version: 1.0.82
  authors: TP.Net.Core
  owners: TP.Net.Core
  requireLicenseAcceptance: 'false'
  description: Package Description
  copyright: '2018'
Dependencies:
  .NETStandard2.0:
 
...

Contents:
  - File:    _rels/.rels
  - File:    [Content_Types].xml
  - File:    TP.Net.Core.nuspec
  - File:    lib/netstandard2.0/TP.Net.Core.dll
  - File:    lib/netstandard2.0/TP.Net.Core.pdb
  - File:    lib/netstandard2.0/TP.Net.Core.xml
  - File:    package/services/metadata/core-properties/0a83a049e8a84378843f907cf66f8d8f.psmdcp

NuGet product used (NuGet.exe | VS UI | Package Manager Console | dotnet.exe):

dotnet.exe

NuGet version (x.x.x.xxx):

dotnet nuget --version
NuGet Command Line
4.8.1.0

dotnet.exe --version (if appropriate):

dotnet --version
2.1.403

VS version (if appropriate):

OS version (i.e. win10 v1607 (14393.321)):

Worked before? If so, with which NuGet version:

Detailed repro steps so we can see the same problem

1. create a netstandard2.0 class lib, create a NuGet package, publish it (Nexus, NuGet)

2. add properties to the project

      <GenerateDocumentationFile>true</GenerateDocumentationFile>

3. create a console app, reference the class lib

4. Add the following target to the console app project

  <Target Name="_ResolvePublishNuGetPackagePdbsAndXml" AfterTargets="RunResolvePublishAssemblies">
    <ItemGroup>
      <ResolvedFileToPublish Include="@(ResolvedAssembliesToPublish->'%(RootDir)%(Directory)%(Filename).pdb')" RelativePath="$([System.IO.Path]::ChangeExtension(%(ResolvedAssembliesToPublish.DestinationSubPath), '.pdb'))" DestinationSubPath="$([System.IO.Path]::ChangeExtension(%(ResolvedAssembliesToPublish.DestinationSubPath), '.pdb'))" Condition="'%(ResolvedAssembliesToPublish.PackageName)' != ''                     and Exists('%(RootDir)%(Directory)%(Filename).pdb')" />
      <ResolvedFileToPublish Include="@(ResolvedAssembliesToPublish->'%(RootDir)%(Directory)%(Filename).xml')" RelativePath="$([System.IO.Path]::ChangeExtension(%(ResolvedAssembliesToPublish.DestinationSubPath), '.xml'))" DestinationSubPath="$([System.IO.Path]::ChangeExtension(%(ResolvedAssembliesToPublish.DestinationSubPath), '.xml'))" Condition="'%(ResolvedAssembliesToPublish.PackageName)' != ''                     and Exists('%(RootDir)%(Directory)%(Filename).xml')" />
    </ItemGroup>
  </Target>

5. Publish the project in Visual Studio/Rider/VsCode, the XML file for the class lib is published

6. Build the project using Docker.

FROM microsoft/dotnet:2.1-sdk AS build-env

ARG VERSION

WORKDIR /app

COPY . ./
RUN dotnet publish /p:Version=${VERSION} -c Release -o out 

FROM microsoft/dotnet:2.1-aspnetcore-runtime
WORKDIR /
COPY --from=build-env /app/customer/out .
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "customer.dll"]

Examine the image, notice the XML file for the class library is missing

Other suggested things

Verbose Logs

verbose logs added below

Please include verbose logs (NuGet.exe -verbosity detailed | dotnet.exe --verbosity diag | etc...)

Sample Project

project added below

[scovel]

Example using a console app and Newtonsoft.Json as the dependency package.

Mac, publish extracts DLL,PDB,XML

Docker I only see DLL, PDB

consoleappxmlissue.zip

Logs

Docker.zip

[scovel]

I found this interesting, maybe you will too. NuGet is clearly doing something different inside a container.

Ran the same test using the latest Microsoft bionic (Ubuntu) Docker image, and then on my Ubuntu Bionic desktop.

Bionic Docker Image logs

bionic-docker.log

Bionic Desktop logs

bionic-desktop.log

[scovel]

I managed to stumble onto the following information...

JetBrains/teamcity-docker-agent#42

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/tools/cli-ref-environment-variables

NUGET_XMLDOC_MODE=skip setting comes from the original docker images provided by Microsoft,

This is causing it to skip extracting the XML file, only in Docker.

Adding

ENV NUGET_XMLDOC_MODE=none

to my Dockerfile corrects this issue.

[tylerohlsen]

FYI, if you split up your docker builds in stages that separate restore, build, and publish then it is important to note that:

ENV NUGET_XMLDOC_MODE=none

needs to be set before the restore stage