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I am trying to debug a build process that uses msbuild. I am trying to follow this document.
I did this to add the required registry key
reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSBuild\4.0 /v DebuggerEnabled /d true
However when I try msbuild.exe/?
I do not see a debug switch
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0>msbuild.exe /?
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 4.0.30319.17929
[Microsoft .NET Framework, version 4.0.30319.18063]
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Syntax: MSBuild.exe [options] [project file]
Description: Builds the specified targets in the project file. If
a project file is not specified, MSBuild searches the
current working directory for a file that has a file
extension that ends in "proj" and uses that file.
Switches:
/target:<targets> Build these targets in this project. Use a semicolon or a
comma to separate multiple targets, or specify each
target separately. (Short form: /t)
Example:
/target:Resources;Compile
/property:<n>=<v> Set or override these project-level properties. <n> is
the property name, and <v> is the property value. Use a
semicolon or a comma to separate multiple properties, or
specify each property separately. (Short form: /p)
Example:
/property:WarningLevel=2;OutDir=bin\Debug\
/maxcpucount[:n] Specifies the maximum number of concurrent processes to
build with. If the switch is not used, the default
value used is 1. If the switch is used without a value
MSBuild will use up to the number of processors on the
computer. (Short form: /m[:n])
/toolsversion:<version>
The version of the MSBuild Toolset (tasks, targets, etc.)
to use during build. This version will override the
versions specified by individual projects. (Short form:
/tv)
Example:
/toolsversion:3.5
/verbosity:<level> Display this amount of information in the event log.
The available verbosity levels are: q[uiet], m[inimal],
n[ormal], d[etailed], and diag[nostic]. (Short form: /v)
Example:
/verbosity:quiet
/consoleloggerparameters:<parameters>
Parameters to console logger. (Short form: /clp)
The available parameters are:
PerformanceSummary--Show time spent in tasks, targets
and projects.
Summary--Show error and warning summary at the end.
NoSummary--Don't show error and warning summary at the
end.
ErrorsOnly--Show only errors.
WarningsOnly--Show only warnings.
NoItemAndPropertyList--Don't show list of items and
properties at the start of each project build.
ShowCommandLine--Show TaskCommandLineEvent messages
ShowTimestamp--Display the Timestamp as a prefix to any
message.
ShowEventId--Show eventId for started events, finished
events, and messages
ForceNoAlign--Does not align the text to the size of
the console buffer
DisableConsoleColor--Use the default console colors
for all logging messages.
DisableMPLogging-- Disable the multiprocessor
logging style of output when running in
non-multiprocessor mode.
EnableMPLogging--Enable the multiprocessor logging
style even when running in non-multiprocessor
mode. This logging style is on by default.
Verbosity--overrides the /verbosity setting for this
logger.
Example:
/consoleloggerparameters:PerformanceSummary;NoSummary;
Verbosity=minimal
/noconsolelogger Disable the default console logger and do not log events
to the console. (Short form: /noconlog)
/fileLogger[n] Logs the build output to a file. By default
the file is in the current directory and named
"msbuild[n].log". Events from all nodes are combined into
a single log. The location of the file and other
parameters for the fileLogger can be specified through
the addition of the "/fileLoggerParameters[n]" switch.
"n" if present can be a digit from 1-9, allowing up to
10 file loggers to be attached. (Short form: /fl[n])
/fileloggerparameters[n]:<parameters>
Provides any extra parameters for file loggers.
The presence of this switch implies the
corresponding /filelogger[n] switch.
"n" if present can be a digit from 1-9.
/fileloggerparameters is also used by any distributed
file logger, see description of /distributedFileLogger.
(Short form: /flp[n])
The same parameters listed for the console logger are
available. Some additional available parameters are:
LogFile--path to the log file into which the
build log will be written.
Append--determines if the build log will be appended
to or overwrite the log file. Setting the
switch appends the build log to the log file;
Not setting the switch overwrites the
contents of an existing log file.
The default is not to append to the log file.
Encoding--specifies the encoding for the file,
for example, UTF-8, Unicode, or ASCII
Default verbosity is Detailed.
Examples:
/fileLoggerParameters:LogFile=MyLog.log;Append;
Verbosity=diagnostic;Encoding=UTF-8
/flp:Summary;Verbosity=minimal;LogFile=msbuild.sum
/flp1:warningsonly;logfile=msbuild.wrn
/flp2:errorsonly;logfile=msbuild.err
/distributedlogger:<central logger>*<forwarding logger>
Use this logger to log events from MSBuild, attaching a
different logger instance to each node. To specify
multiple loggers, specify each logger separately.
(Short form /dl)
The <logger> syntax is:
[<logger class>,]<logger assembly>[;<logger parameters>]
The <logger class> syntax is:
[<partial or full namespace>.]<logger class name>
The <logger assembly> syntax is:
{<assembly name>[,<strong name>] | <assembly file>}
The <logger parameters> are optional, and are passed
to the logger exactly as you typed them. (Short form: /l)
Examples:
/dl:XMLLogger,MyLogger,Version=1.0.2,Culture=neutral
/dl:MyLogger,C:\My.dll*ForwardingLogger,C:\Logger.dll
/distributedFileLogger
Logs the build output to multiple log files, one log file
per MSBuild node. The initial location for these files is
the current directory. By default the files are called
"MSBuild<nodeid>.log". The location of the files and
other parameters for the fileLogger can be specified
with the addition of the "/fileLoggerParameters" switch.
If a log file name is set through the fileLoggerParameters
switch the distributed logger will use the fileName as a
template and append the node id to this fileName to
create a log file for each node.
/logger:<logger> Use this logger to log events from MSBuild. To specify
multiple loggers, specify each logger separately.
The <logger> syntax is:
[<logger class>,]<logger assembly>[;<logger parameters>]
The <logger class> syntax is:
[<partial or full namespace>.]<logger class name>
The <logger assembly> syntax is:
{<assembly name>[,<strong name>] | <assembly file>}
The <logger parameters> are optional, and are passed
to the logger exactly as you typed them. (Short form: /l)
Examples:
/logger:XMLLogger,MyLogger,Version=1.0.2,Culture=neutral
/logger:XMLLogger,C:\Loggers\MyLogger.dll;OutputAsHTML
/validate Validate the project against the default schema. (Short
form: /val)
/validate:<schema> Validate the project against the specified schema. (Short
form: /val)
Example:
/validate:MyExtendedBuildSchema.xsd
/ignoreprojectextensions:<extensions>
List of extensions to ignore when determining which
project file to build. Use a semicolon or a comma
to separate multiple extensions.
(Short form: /ignore)
Example:
/ignoreprojectextensions:.sln
/nodeReuse:<parameters>
Enables or Disables the reuse of MSBuild nodes.
The parameters are:
True --Nodes will remain after the build completes
and will be reused by subsequent builds (default)
False--Nodes will not remain after the build completes
(Short form: /nr)
Example:
/nr:true
/preprocess[:file]
Creates a single, aggregated project file by
inlining all the files that would be imported during a
build, with their boundaries marked. This can be
useful for figuring out what files are being imported
and from where, and what they will contribute to
the build. By default the output is written to
the console window. If the path to an output file
is provided that will be used instead.
(Short form: /pp)
Example:
/pp:out.txt
/detailedsummary
Shows detailed information at the end of the build
about the configurations built and how they were
scheduled to nodes.
(Short form: /ds)
@<file> Insert command-line settings from a text file. To specify
multiple response files, specify each response file
separately.
Any response files named "msbuild.rsp" are automatically
consumed from the following locations:
(1) the directory of msbuild.exe
(2) the directory of the first project or solution built
/noautoresponse Do not auto-include any MSBuild.rsp files. (Short form:
/noautorsp)
/nologo Do not display the startup banner and copyright message.
/version Display version information only. (Short form: /ver)
/help Display this usage message. (Short form: /? or /h)
Examples:
MSBuild MyApp.sln /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release
MSBuild MyApp.csproj /t:Clean
/p:Configuration=Debug;TargetFrameworkVersion=v3.5
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0>
What am I doing wrong?
445
MSBuild unfortunately does not have a full-blown debugging experience, in terms of breakpoints and stepping through the MSBuild syntax line-by-line, but instead one has to primarily rely on logging. However, MSBuild has quite verbose logging, as anyone who has enabled diagnostic logging can attest to.
From the Visual Studio main menu, go to Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Build and Run. Set Msbuild project build verbosity to Detailed in both combo boxes.
Make sure to reopen your command prompt or visual studio code terminal. Now if you run msbuild command, it should work fine. P.S – You do not need to perform these steps if working with Developer command prompt for Visual studio. Hope this small tip helped!
If MSBuild is unnecessarily rebuilding a project or project item, create a detailed or binary build log. You can search the log for the file that was built or compiled unnecessarily. The output looks something like this:
You are on x64 OS and running x86 process so you should set
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSBuild\4.0
If you want to have it available for both (x86 and x64) msbuild
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSBuild\4.0]
"DebuggerEnabled"="true"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSBuild\4.0]
"DebuggerEnabled"="true"
I needed Palo's answer about Wow6432Node node, with one more twist.
When I ran msbuild /? I see I am running version 12.0, so registry key 4.0 isn't helpful.
When I run where msbuild I see msbuild is installed in Program Files (x86) so I'll need Wow6432Node.
Combining them both:
reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSBuild\12.0 /v DebuggerEnabled /d true
And now msbuild /? shows debug is enabled!
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