Adding /p:Platform="Any CPU" parameter forces the build in Debug configuration

Question

I run the following to build my solution (all projects in C#):

MSBuild.exe foo.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="Any CPU"

It builds it in Debug configuration. If i remove the reference to "Any CPU"

MSBuild.exe foo.sln /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release

the build is built in Release configuration.

Why is that? Am I missing something simple here?

Answer 1

Adding /p:Platform=“Any CPU” parameter forces the build in Debug configuration

The output directory of the project is related to the property of OutputPath in the PropertyGroup in the project file foo.csproj.

According to your description, you may not have configured the target platform and OutputPath correctly in your project file, for example:

  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Debug\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>

If we give the <OutputPath>bin\Debug\</OutputPath> for the Release configuration, then we will get the output in the Debug folder.

So, to resolve this issue, you need to check the property OutputPath in the project file, make sure it match the target platform.

Hope this helps.