How to get VS to use local build of ASP.NET Core?

[IanKemp]

I've followed all the steps in BuildFromSource.md to get a local build of release/3.1 built and installed. I'm using the startvs.cmd in the root of the repo to run my own VS solution. When I build and run my sln and check the Debug > Modules, I can see it's indeed using my locally-built 3.1.10 DLLs. All good.

However, if I check the project's referenced frameworks (Project > Dependencies > Frameworks) I see the following:

• Microsoft.AspNetCore.App: path C:\Users\iank.nuget\packages\microsoft.aspnetcore.app.ref\3.1.8, version 3.1.8
• Microsoft.NETCore.App: path C:\aspnetcore.dotnet\packs\Microsoft.NETCore.App.Ref\3.1.0, version 3.1.0

I would expect that Microsoft.AspNetCore.App would be using C:\aspnetcore\.dotnet\packs\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.Ref\3.1.10, but that isn't the case. The end result is that instead of building against my local 3.1.10, VS is building against the release 3.1.8, which is not what I want.

How do I make VS build using the 3.1.10 ASP.NET Core DLLs? Do I have to define a new/unique FrameworkReference that points to my 3.1.10 DLLs?

[dougbu]

The SDK in your own solution will use the bundled runtime versions unless you mimic our @(KnownFrameworkReference) overrides (less the Condition attributes). See https://github.com/dotnet/aspnetcore/blob/release/3.1/Directory.Build.targets#L132-L136

[dougbu]

@captainsafia I suggest we need to mention this in https://github.com/dotnet/aspnetcore/blob/master/docs/BuildFromSource.md#use-the-result-of-your-build Do you agree❔ If yes, I can do the needful.

[captainsafia]

@dougbu Sure! I also think it would also be sensible if we moved that section of the doc to another markdown file and linked to it from there to keep the BuildFromSource doc focused on the main build-for-development scenarios.

[JunTaoLuo]

Sounds like a quick doc update/reorganization, let's do this in the current sprint. FYI @dotnet/aspnet-build

[dougbu]

@wtgodbe, @mkArtakMSFT this should probably be on the backlog or closed. Not a big fix but also may not be needed.

We've moved this issue to the Backlog milestone. This means that it is not going to be worked on for the coming release. We will reassess the backlog following the current release and consider this item at that time. To learn more about our issue management process and to have better expectation regarding different types of issues you can read our Triage Process.