There are several documented ways on internet on how to use Symbols Source files and Source Link to debug inside a Nuget Package but it's honestly hard to understand what is the good way for me.
We have an Azure DevOps Server on which we generate Nuget packages and at the same time publish the .pdb files to the Azure DevOps Symbol Server using an Index Sources & Publish Symbols task in our build pipelines as described here
My project' also has a reference to Microsoft.SourceLink.Vsts.Git and this code in the .csproj file
<PublishRepositoryUrl>true</PublishRepositoryUrl>
<EmbedUntrackedSources>true</EmbedUntrackedSources>
I've read several blog posts but the source I trust the most to be up to date is of course the official Source Link Git repository.
The readme.md file says
Including PDBs in the .nupkg is generally no longer recommended as it increases the size of the package and thus restore time for projects that consume your package, regardless of whether the user needs to debug through the source code of your library or not
I agree with that point that's why I want to use the Symbol Server, not to include the .pdb file in the Nuget Package. Therefore please don't flag my question as a duplicate of this one, because the accepted answer is exactly what I don't want to do.
The readme file also states that
.snupkg symbol packages have some limitations:
They do not currently support Windows PDBs (generated by VC++, or for managed projects that set build property DebugType to full)
They require the library to be built by newer C#/VB compiler (Visual Studio 2017 Update 9).
The consumer of the package also needs Visual Studio 2017 Update 9 debugger.
Not supported by Azure DevOps Artifacts service.
so at least I know I can't use that.
But what is the proper way to set Source Link up and working then?
When I debug my test console application it successfully downloads the .pdb file to my Symbols cache folder but if I try to step in the code coming from my Nuget Package using F11, it just doesn't work. (However it steps in System.String.Concat because my simple test Nuget Package is actually concatenating some strings)
I tried to run sourcelink test TestSourceLink.pdb but I get a error: url hash does not match. I read here that sourcelink test is a legacy thing and doesn't support authentication to private repositories like ours.
With my browser, if I visit the URL given by sourcelink print-json TestSourceLink.pdb I can see the latest source code. But now the question is, why is Visual Studio not able to download the source code? I'm authenticated to this Azure DevOps server in VS because I'm able to install Nuget Packages coming from this server.
Here are my debugging settings:
Thanks a lot. I really can't figure out what's the missing piece of this puzzle
Well, I should have read and followed this answer before posting my question because this was the missing piece of the puzzle.
I needed to follow steps 5 and 6 of Eric's blog post but I actually didn't need to modify my pack command because I'm not including the .pdb file in the Nuget Package.
[EDIT 2]:
Note: So far I could only get this working if the Nuget Package is generated with the Debug Build Configuration. If you find a way to get Source Link working with a Release DLL inside the Nuget Package, please answer my other question. Thank you
[EDIT]: Since I wrote a documentation for my company, here it is:
Summary:
This requires two things:
Having access to the Symbol file of the project (.pdb) which is a mapping file used by the debugger
Enable Source Link support so Visual Studio knows where it should look to download the source code while debugging
Set Up:
Component's project
For each project in your solution:
Only if you plan consumers of the Nuget package to use Visual Studio 2017. This step isn't required with you want to use Source Link with Visual Studio 2019:
In Visual Studio, right click on your project -> Properties then go to Build -> Advanced and change the Debugging Information from Portable (default value) to Full
Install the Microsoft.SourceLink.AzureDevOpsServer.Git Nuget Package
Edit the .csproj file and include the following code in the first PropertyGroup element:
<PublishRepositoryUrl>true</PublishRepositoryUrl>
<EmbedUntrackedSources>true</EmbedUntrackedSources>
Azure DevOps build pipeline
Create a pipeline variable called BuildConfiguration (if it doesn't exist already) and set the value to Debug
Use this variable as argument in your .NET Core Build task: --configuration $(BuildConfiguration)
In your .NET Core Pack task, use this variable in the Configuration to Package field: $(BuildConfiguration)
At the end of your pipeline you must have a task Index Sources & Publish Symbols
In the Artifact name field, the BuildConfiguration variable must be used too: Symbols_$(BuildConfiguration)
Of course you must also have a .NET Core Push task to push you Nuget package to your Azure DevOps Nuget Feed
Visual Studio
Tools -> Options -> Debugging -> Symbols click on the New Azure DevOps Symbol Server Location... button and authenticate to the server
Set the cache folder to a convenient location like C:\Symbols\. This is where all your .pdb files will be stored
Tools -> Options -> Debugging -> Symbols click on Load only specified modules. You can here specify the Symbol files of DLLs you want to load.
If you don't do this and leave the default to Load all modules, unless excluded, Visual Studio will take a very long time to load everything when you run your program in debug mode.
Tips : To see all the DLLs loaded by your project, when you're debugging, click on Debug -> Windows -> Modules. From here you can view the full list, select multiple and then right click Copy Value -> Copy Name
Tools -> Options -> Debugging -> General
Uncheck Enable Just My Code
Check Enable source server support
Check Enable Source Link Support
Consuming project
When you want to debug inside the Nuget Package's code, naturally press F11 to step into it and Visual Studio will ask if you agree to download the source code from your Azure DevOps repository
Related
Currently through Azure Devops, I'm setting up a .Net Desktop type with pipe-line that includes assembly libraries. In my understanding this should've work if the scenario was TFS is on-premise and I can just install any 3rd party non-nuget libraries in that server and make the build work. Right now I was able to make this work by literally copying the .dlls but I felt its more of a hack than actually letting the build know that I'm referencing assembly / non-nuget package libraries.
I'm pretty sure i've missed something, is there a way to properly set this up?
Even though it's not a recommend way, but you could check in these libraries/dlls in source control. TFS could download them from server to your build agent and refer them.
First, make sure your local build is successful and if just the TFS build is failing then it is usually due to dll reference path issue. Make sure that the Dll is referenced as a relative path in the project file (.csproj).
To add a relative reference in a separate directory, such as C:\tfs_get\Sources\assembly\abc.dll, do the following:
Add the reference in Visual Studio by right clicking the project in Solution Explorer and selecting Add Reference.
Find the *.csproj where this reference exist and open it in a text editor. Lets say your .csproj location is c:\tfs_get\sources\myfolder\myproject\myproj.csproj
Edit the < HintPath > to be equal to
..\\..\assembly\abc.dll
This build will work properly with the assumption that the folders ( assembly, myfolder) under the sources folder exist in TFS.
Update
Have a folder named "libs", or "libraries", for example, that contains all the assemblies required by your projects to compile and run.
Reference these assembly by right click the reference folder of project and browser to these assemblies files.
For build, in Source Settings (XAML, Build Agent Folder)/Repository, keep the similar structure.
More details please take a look at this similar question : How to properly check in DLLs/assemblies to TFS/Visual Studio Team Services (was VSO)
I've added Autofac library using NuGet and I see it in my references as shown below.
But when I check the properties [F4] of Autofac by clicking on it, it shows empty property box in Visual Studio.
Also, I don't see Autofac folder under packages folder.
I see only Package reference in .csproj file. Then how does it locates the DLL? Where is the actual DLL? I see it's automatically coming inside BIN. How does it come?
Main Issue: Locally I'm able to build the solution but same solution fails on TFS build agents. It's unable to find the NuGet reference. So where can I find DLL references? or how to push it to TFS?
As #magicandre1981 already explained, with PackageReference style package referencing (as apposed to package.config-style, also see this for more background on the differences, in case you didn't know), the packages are not located in a per-solution packages-folder, but in a central one (by default %USERPROFILE%\.nuget\packages). Albeit you can easily change the location using the NUGET_PACKAGES environment variable (which also works as a TFS Build variable, because they are provided as environment variables to build steps).
Furthermore, inside Visual Studio you see no path, because the actual path to the DLL is determined at build time. You can see part of that path in your <project-dir>\obj\project.assets.json file (which is generated during the restore target/operation), but the full path you will only see in the MSBuild logs (for example when actually calling the csc.exe executable/C# compiler or during ResolveAssembyReferences-task).
Note that for .NET Core, i.e. "SDK style" projects, the path is actually shown in properties (as are the actual DLLs in a node underneath the "package" node.
One can only assume that the integration of PackageReference in "old" projects is not fully done yet (if ever).
For comparison a PackageReference in an "old" / non-SDK-style project:
You use the new Package Reference where the NuGet files get get stored into a cache:
Solution-local packages folders are no longer used – Packages are now
resolved against the user’s cache at %userdata%\.nuget, rather than
a solution specific packages folder. This makes PackageReference
perform faster and consume less disk space by using a shared folder of
packages on your workstation.
Assume you are using TFS 2015, the NuGet Restore task name should be NuGet Installer which under Package when you add tasks.
So, if you have installed Nuget in the build machine, then you can use the task directly.
You can also custom nuget.exe for TFS 2015 build -- Just specify the Path to NuGet.exe
You can refer to Mummy's blog- Custom nuget.exe for TFS 2015 build for details.
Add a NuGet Restore task to your build so that the packages are restored.
I'm able to successfully publish symbols to the VSTS symbol server as part of the build execution.
Followed this link to setup visual studio and everything good until this point. My symbol settings shown below:
When trying to debug, visual studio hits VSTS symbol server but return error message “Cannot find or open PDB file”
Below is the symbol load information provided by visual studio after trying to fetch from VSTS symbol server
As of November 15 2017 Visual Studio Online (also now known as Azure DevOps) the Index Sources and Publish Symbols build step handles the new portable PDB's create by dotnet build
You should tick Publish symbols and select your Subscription. The free tier has 5 users. You need to assign each user access to symbol server.
Ticking the Index Sources check box makes no sense though as the source files are on the build server, usually in an obscure location such as C:\agent\_work\34\s\... which will not match your local (or network path) to the source files.
To help Visual Studio find the source files you can do this... (you can avoid this by using SourceLink as described below)
Select the solution in Solution Explorer and then choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
Under the Common Properties node, choose Debug Source Files.
Click the folder Tools/ Options/ Debugging/Symbols folder icon icon. Editable text appears in the Directories containing source code list.
Add the path that you want to search.
When you start debugging all the symbols will download and you can step into the source code now.
This does NOT require disabling just my code and you do not need to enable source server either.
Unless you are using, or would like to use source server. It is pretty easy to do now by adding a few packages...
With AzureDev ops you can modify your build pipeline to make use of soruce files stored in GIT byt following this guide.
The prerequisite is .NET Core SDK 2.1.300 or desktop msbuild version
15.7.
On your package project project you need to add NuGet package "SourceLink.Create.CommandLine" which will enable your build server (and your local build machine) to rewrite parts of the Portable PDB's without changing anything in the build pipeline.
You also need to add a package to the correct source control. As described in this article. - I am using VSTS so I just install "Microsoft.SourceLink.Vsts.Git" package (must enable Include Prelease as of writing now)
To verify this works all you need to do is build the project and look inside \obj\{config}\{tfm}\ for a file called *.sourcelink.json and has the correct URL's inside it.
Then the usual pack and publish you would do.
In Visual Studio you just need to enable
Enable Source server support
Enable Source Link support
You need to run the application built in the same build as the build to publish symbols to VSTS Symbol server, the identity will be different in the different builds.
You can find that there is the GUID (0CD368C47775439…) in the Symbol load information, also you can check the Publish symbols task’s build log, there is the GUID too. Within a build the GUIDs will be the same and the symbols will be loaded correctly during debug.
Did you enable Source Server Support in the VS.NET debug options ?
You might also uncheck 'Enable Just My Code' in the VS.NET debug options.
There's a blogpost that I've recently written where I explain setting up and using a symbol server; might find some tips that might help you with your problem.
How do I create a TFS Build which automatically runs a Release (deployment) from Microsoft's Release Management for Visual Studio 2013?
In order to start a release off from your TFS Build, you need to change the Build Definition. Luckily when you install Release Management it creates a Build Template for you to use with an example. In may instances this will be enough to get you going.
Release Management Build Process Template
Release Management Build Process Templates are not installed in TFS by default, so it won’t appear as an available build process template until you add it.
Find the Template in your server install in : C:\Program Files (x86)\ Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\ReleaseManagement\bin\
TFS 2010 : ReleaseDefaultTemplate.xaml
TFS 2012 : ReleaseDefaultTemplate.11.1.xaml
TFS 2013 : ReleaseTfvcTemplate.12.xaml (or ReleaseGitTemplate.12.xaml if using GIT)
To add the release management build process template, you will need to check it in to your TFS source control in the BuildProcessTemplate folder in your project. Then add the build process file when editing (or adding) a Build Definition. Once the release management template has been added to the list of build templates, you can start using it.
Please ensure you use the above templates from the Release Management Server and not the client directory as I did initially. You will get rather odd errors during your build if so, such as:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets (3883): Web deployment task failed. (Unknown ProviderOption:DefiningProjectFullPath. Known ProviderOptions are:skipInvalid.)
Package Pickup \ Path to package.
When you set up your components, Release Management needs to know where to pick up your installation files to do something with them. When you created your Release Template it should be connected to a specific build by selecting the build definition that will initiate it (also tick "can trigger a release from a build?"). When you add the components to install as part of your release you specify their Source. "Builds with application" should be selected. The bit that got me was the big empty box next to the Build Drop location which is a mandatory field. My initial reaction was to fill it with the name of the msi file I was trying to deploy. That makes sense right? wrong. If I queued a build from Visual Studio I kept getting the following message.
Package location '\\blah\blah\Build Name\Build Name_20140707.3\A.Product.To.Install.msi' does not exists or Deployer user does not have access.
The file did exist in the location and the user the deployment agent was using did have access to the drop directory. I had also confirmed it was able to access it using ProcMon. After sleeping on it I decided to hover my mouse over the input box and a nice tooltip pops up saying:
The package path relative to the build drop location is required for
component bound to a Release Template. If the package is directly at
the root of the build drop location, you need to enter the '\'
character.
So, after my eureka moment, I deleted the msi file name and replaced it with a "\" and queued the next build. It worked. In retrospect I think they should remove the mandatory requirement for something to be entered to replace the need to enter a "\". It's a little hidden and not intuitive.
See MSDN Article here for more info
For Modified Build Process Templates
I've published some private/internal libraries as NuGet packages, using the symbols option. The packages and symbols are hosted on an internal network share. How can I step into these packages when debugging?
When I step to code from these packages, Visual Studio displays a "No Source Available" / "No Symbols Found" page. Clicking the "Load Symbols" only allows pdb files, not symbol packages.
These packages are not suitable for publishing on NuGet Gallery/SymbolSource.
What is the command that you used to generate the packages with the symbols? I tried to do the same exact thing nuget.exe pack -Prop Configuration=Release Framework.csproj -Symbols This creates two files: Framework.nupkg and Framework.symbols.nupkg. I put these files on a network share, used them from another project and debugging worked fine.
Have you tried putting the *.nupkg and *.symbols.nupkg files on a local disk instead of a network share?
There are a couple options; one is to set-up & configure your own symbol server.
You could also download Inedo's ProGet, enable symbol serving on the target feed, and then publish your packages to ProGet. All of this can be done with the free edition of ProGet.
disclaimer -- my day job is at Inedo
There is also now a tool called GitLink (https://github.com/GitTools/GitLink) which can insert into the symbol file links to versioned GIT files of your source.
You can set up your own symbolsource server internally using those network shares.
You can find a step-by-step tutorial on my blog.
It basically comes down to create an empty MVC application and run
Install-Package SymbolSource.Server.Basic
From there on you need to set up the hosting infrastructure and configure Visual Studio and build agents.
The way we do it (and works):
Generate "*.symbols.nupkg"
Deploy symbol package to SymbolSource server (private)
Configure IDE
Add required Library to project using NuGet (from our SymbolSource server)
Debug!
Links that can be useful:
SymbolSource server installation
Important: "Debugging Tools for Windows" won't install if it detects newer Visual C++ Redist version in the system than it needs/expects
Vs configuration to debug using SymbolSource
The URL to add is like http://your.symbolsource-server.com:[port]/[appContext]/WinDbg/pdb
I found that it doesn't work at all. NuGet package references are closed and cannot be used in the debugger. What I did instead was deleting the assembly reference from the project and instead added a reference to a Debug build of the DLL directly by path.
Then to make the debugger halt somewhere in that code, I inserted the call System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Break(); in that code. When running, the debugger will halt at that line, which is basically a code-defined breakpoint. This will open the correct source file and jump to that line automatically.
Open the library project in a second VS instance and move around the Break calls as necessary and rebuild the library. When done, remove those calls from the library code and restore the original reference (may need to reinstall the NuGet package).