Xamarin Android MvvmCross Linking issues - visual-studio

Question

I am building my first release version of Xamarin Android with MvvmCross. Just like most other people who have similar issue, the app run ok in debug mode but not release with linking. I have been stuck and searched for days but still could not resolve it. Please kindly help.
I have the latest Visual Studio 2017 v15.7.2, .net 4.7.03056, Xamarin 4.10.0.48 & Android SDK 8.1 installed.
To resolve the issue, I start running in Debug mode with linking “Sdk Assemblies Only” and not using Shared Runtime. The following errors occur:
05-24 02:21:52.490 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/mono/gac/System.Runtime/4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Runtime.dll'.
05-24 02:21:52.490 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/System.Runtime.dll'.
05-24 02:21:52.490 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/mono/gac/System.Runtime/4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Runtime.exe'.
05-24 02:21:52.491 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/System.Runtime.exe'.
05-24 02:21:52.491 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/mono/gac/System.Runtime/4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Runtime.dll'.
05-24 02:21:52.491 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/.../files/.__override__/System.Runtime.dll'.
05-24 02:21:52.491 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/System.Runtime.dll'.
05-24 02:21:52.491 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/mono/gac/System.Runtime/4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Runtime.exe'.
05-24 02:21:52.491 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/xxx.Droid/files/.__override__/System.Runtime.exe'.
05-24 02:21:52.493 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/System.Runtime.exe'.
05-24 02:21:52.493 W/Mono( 9114) : The following assembly referenced from /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/xxx.Droid/files/.__override__/MvvmCross.Platform.dll could not be loaded:
05-24 02:21:52.493 W/Mono( 9114) : Assembly: System.Runtime(assemblyref_index=0)
05-24 02:21:52.493 W/Mono( 9114) : Version: 4.0.0.0
05-24 02:21:52.493 W/Mono( 9114) : Public Key: b03f5f7f11d50a3a
05-24 02:21:52.493 W/Mono( 9114) : The assembly was not found in the Global Assembly Cache, a path listed in the MONO_PATH environment variable, or in the location of the executing assembly(/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/xxx.Droid/files/.__override__/).
05-24 02:21:52.493 D/Mono( 9114) : Failed to load assembly MvvmCross.Platform[0xe7ec5ea0].
05-24 02:21:52.493 W/ ( 9114): Could not load signature of MvvmCross.Platform.Droid.Views.MvxEventSourceActivity:add_CreateWillBeCalled due to: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Runtime, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies.assembly:System.Runtime, Version= 4.0.0.0, Culture= neutral, PublicKeyToken= b03f5f7f11d50a3a type:<unknown type> member:(null) signature:<none>
Unhandled Exception:
System.TypeLoadException: Could not resolve the signature of a virtual method
05-24 02:24:36.309 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Ref addref xxx.Droid[0xe7ec5240] -> MvvmCross.Plugins.ResxLocalization[0xe7ec6260]: 2
05-24 02:24:36.310 D/Mono ( 9114): Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/mono/gac/System.Runtime/4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Runtime.dll'.
05-24 02:24:36.310 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/System.Runtime.dll'.
05-24 02:24:36.310 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/mono/gac/System.Runtime/4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Runtime.exe'.
05-24 02:24:36.310 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/System.Runtime.exe'.
05-24 02:24:36.311 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/usr/local/lib/mono/gac/System.Runtime/4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Runtime.dll'.
05-24 02:24:36.311 D/Mono( 9114) : Assembly Loader probing location: '/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/xxx.Droid/files/.__override__/System.Runtime.dll'.
It seems that it is trying to locate an older version of System.Runtime. I added bindingRedirect to the app.conig. No luck with it: Removing all dependentAssembly does not help too. My System.Runtime version is 4.3.0
<configuration>
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Collections.Immutable" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-1.2.2.0" newVersion="1.2.2.0" />
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Runtime" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.1.1.0" newVersion="4.3.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding>
</runtime>
</configuration>
When running in Release mode with “Sdk Assemblies Only”, I got the following message in log (sorry for not able to copy it as text but screen shot only):
This looks more like related to linking. I have the standard LinkerPleaseInclude with all property & method that were bound in my xml specified. However, the app crash at the splash screen before reaching my own code. This is the code of my splashscreen, just the untouched one clone from the sample.
namespace xxx.Droid
{
[Activity(
Label = "xxx.Droid"
, MainLauncher = true
, Icon = "#drawable/icon"
, Theme = "#style/Theme.Splash"
, NoHistory = true
, ScreenOrientation = ScreenOrientation.Portrait)]
public class SplashScreen : MvxSplashScreenActivity
{
public SplashScreen()
: base(Resource.Layout.splash_screen)
{
}
}
}
In summary,
I have 3 questions right now:
BindingRedirect in debug mode does not work. Cannot run with linking in debug mode made problem solving much harder
In release mode, crash at splash screen. However, I cannot see what is missing from the log
Is there any rule / hint from log to find out what should be included in the linkerpleaseinclude?
Thank you very much for any help
Nick