ALINK : warning AL1073: Referenced assembly 'mscorlib.dll' targets a different processor

Question

We are using VS2013 and .Net 4.5.1(recently migrated, but this error is there from .Net 4.0) . This error occurs only when compiling the project in platform target x64. Is this really a error which will break in runtime? Why MSBUILD does not resolve this mrcorlib.dll properly ? This happens only in projects which were created in VS2010 and does not occur in newly created projects. What am I missing here. All my third party assemblies are in x64bit.

In TeamCity build server, I get following error:

GenerateSatelliteAssemblies
[17:01:18]AL
[17:01:18]C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.1A\bin\NETFX 4.5.1 Tools\AL.exe /culture:de /keyfile:..\..\MyApp.snk /out:obj\x64\Release\de\MyApp.Hardware.Softing.resources.dll /platform:x64 /template:obj\x64\Release\MyApp.Hardware.Softing.dll /embed:obj\x64\Release\MyApp.Hardware.Softing.Properties.Resources.de.resources
[17:01:18]ALINK warning AL1073: Referenced assembly 'mscorlib.dll' targets a different processor

Answer 1

Here is a workaround:

The issue can be avoided by using the AL.EXE that matches the platform (or bitness) you are attempting to build. That is, you'll see that when you are building x64, that it is trying to use AL.EXE at a path similar to

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v10.0A\bin\NETFX 4.6 Tools

If you can get it to use the x64 version of AL.exe, the issue will go away. That is, use the AL.EXE at a path similar to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v10.0A\bin\NETFX 4.6 Tools\x64

Msbuild finds this path by using its TargetFrameworkSDKToolsDirectory. Thus, using the assumption that this directory is the correct directory when building x86, the workaround below essentially appends the x64 sub directory on to the path when building x64 and leaves it as is otherwise:

1. Create an MsBuildAL1073WarningWorkaround.targets file (name doesn't matter) and add it to the project. It has the following contents:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">   <PropertyGroup>     <TargetFrameworkSDKToolsDirectory Condition=" '$(PlatformTarget)' == 'x64'">$(TargetFrameworkSDKToolsDirectory)$(PlatformTarget)\</TargetFrameworkSDKToolsDirectory>   </PropertyGroup> </Project>   

2. Edit the .csproj file to import this file near the end of the file (where you'll see the comment that says "To modify your build process...":

    <Import Project="MsBuildAL1073WarningWorkaround.targets" />  <!-- To modify your build process... --> 

Answer 2

These warnings are shown in the projects that contain localization satellite assemblies(.resx files) in the solution.

This is the bug from Microsoft side and as of Aug 2017, Microsoft still hasn't fixed it.

Here's the quote from the MS feedback page:

It is resulting from a logic bug in the .NET framework binary alink.dll. But given the limited impact of this issue and the fact that this tool has a very high bar for servicing we will not be making a change to address this issue.

Regards,

Ed Maurer Development Lead, VB & C# Compilers

Answer 3

This warning can be safely ignored. Since .Net will load the correct 64bit assemblies on runtime in a 64bit machine. Still microsoft can give a solid answer to this issue. It was unnecessary time wasting warning.