Dotnet build fails when project includes foreign language resources

Question

I am using Visual Studio 15.6.3, dotnet SDK 2.1.102.

Recently, (maybe after an update) I tracked down a dotnet build bug that is showing up to a project that includes foreign language resources. The error message is as follows:

C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.1.102\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(3570,5): error MSB4062: The "Microsoft.Build.Tasks.AL" task could not be loaded from the assembly Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core, Version=15.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a.  Confirm that the <UsingTask> declaration is correct, that the assembly and all its dependencies are available, and that the task contains a public class that implements Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITask.

I can provide steps to reproduce this error:

1. Create a C# console app in Visual Studio, call it DotNetBugTest.
2. Edit project properties, under build, uncheck "Prefer 32-bit" (console app artifact).
3. Add a resource at root level of project, call it Messages.resx.
4. Add a string resource, call it A, and give it the text English.
5. Add another resource at the root level of project, call it Messages.fr-CA.resx.
6. Add same string resource, call it A, and give it the text French.

7. Now in the Program class, add the following:

   class Program
   {
       static void Main(string[] args)
       {
           var rm = new ResourceManager("DotNetBugTest.Messages", typeof(Program).Assembly);
   
           var en = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("en-US"); 
           var fr = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("fr-CA"); 
   
           Console.WriteLine($@"en={rm.GetString("A", en)}");
           Console.WriteLine($@"fr={rm.GetString("A", fr)}");
   
           Console.ReadKey();
       }
   }
   

This runs fine in Visual Studio. Outputs:

en=English
fr=French

But if you try to compile it from the command line:

dotnet build --configuration Debug

You get the error.

Does anybody have an idea how to fix this? Or even suggestions of where to look?

Answer 1

It seems that you have to use MSBuild to build this project.

See also this article: https://blog.codeinside.eu/2019/11/30/build-dotnetcore-apps-with-msbuild-to-avoid-strange-netframeworkbased-errors/