obj\project.assets.json is deleted after clean build if Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Publish is added

[marcOcram]

Describe the bug

If I add the SDK Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Publish to a .NET Windows WPF project which references a NuGet package (e.g. Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore), the file obj\project.assets.json is removed after running dotnet build --no-incremental. The same happens after a rebuild in Visual Studio.

If you delete MainWindow.xaml the issue does not occur anymore. If you add a new Window/Page/UserControl it appears again.

My expectation is that the project.assets.json file stays there and does not get deleted.

This affects .NET 8.0 as well as 9.0.

To Reproduce

Create a new WPF Application, add the Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Publish SDK and reference any NuGet package (e.g. Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore).

Example *.csproj file

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk;Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Publish">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0-windows</TargetFramework>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <UseWPF>true</UseWPF>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore" Version="9.0.4" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

Further technical details

• Include the output of dotnet --info

.NET SDK:
 Version:           9.0.203
 Commit:            dc7acfa194
 Workload version:  9.0.200-manifests.12d79ccf
 MSBuild version:   17.13.20+a4ef1e90f

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  10.0.19045
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win-x64
 Base Path:   C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\9.0.203\

.NET workloads installed:
 [wasm-tools-net6]
   Installation Source: VS 17.13.35931.197
   Manifest Version:    9.0.4/9.0.100
   Manifest Path:       C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk-manifests\9.0.100\microsoft.net.workload.mono.toolchain.net6\9.0.4\WorkloadManifest.json
   Install Type:              Msi

 [wasm-tools]
   Installation Source: VS 17.13.35931.197
   Manifest Version:    9.0.4/9.0.100
   Manifest Path:       C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk-manifests\9.0.100\microsoft.net.workload.mono.toolchain.current\9.0.4\WorkloadManifest.json
   Install Type:              Msi

Configured to use loose manifests when installing new manifests.

Host:
  Version:      9.0.4
  Architecture: x64
  Commit:       f57e6dc747

.NET SDKs installed:
  9.0.203 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.30 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.30 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.1.32 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 5.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 6.0.36 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 7.0.20 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 8.0.15 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 9.0.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.30 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.32 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 5.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.36 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 7.0.20 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 8.0.15 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 9.0.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.1.32 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 5.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.36 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 7.0.20 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 8.0.15 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 9.0.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

Other architectures found:
  x86   [C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet]
    registered at [HKLM\SOFTWARE\dotnet\Setup\InstalledVersions\x86\InstallLocation]

Environment variables:
  Not set

global.json file:
  Not found

• The IDE (VS / VS Code/ VS4Mac) you're running on, and its version Visual Studio 17.13.6

[ghost]

I couldn't figure out the best area label to add to this issue. If you have write-permissions please help me learn by adding exactly one area label.

[ghost]

I couldn't figure out the best area label to add to this issue. If you have write-permissions please help me learn by adding exactly one area label.

[MichaeIDietrich]

This one sounds familiar to me, I think it had something to do with the WPF sdk that it by default uses a relative path for the intermediate output path while the publish sdk modifies it to be absolute if necessary. And this results in a misbehaving condition which then thinks it should clear some files.

Currently I do not have the time to look into it, but could you try to set the following property in your csproj:

<_InitialBaseIntermediateOutputPath Condition=" '$([System.IO.Path]::IsPathRooted($(_InitialBaseIntermediateOutputPath)))' == 'False' ">$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\$(_InitialBaseIntermediateOutputPath)</_InitialBaseIntermediateOutputPath>

and check whether this helps?

[marcOcram]

Yes, this is a working workaround for this kind of issue.