So I accept that something v strange is happening on my end with caching or something. Obviously have emptied caches, deleted packages folder and regot packages.
https://www.nuget.org/packages/Google.ProtocolBuffers/
Renamed the nupkg zip, looked in and the dll are there. They just arn't extracted - that said the nuspec looks wrong for the folder structure in it. But find it hard to believe its just me having this problem.
I have never had this behavior before and have sunk about 2 hours into it. So hopefully someone can point out the really obvious and explain why a package that i have used in the past is suddenly fubar.
edit for more info: I reproduced using a 4.6.1 console project in vs2015 enterprise (just standard .net not dnx or anything funky). Just tried with a 4.5.2 and i have the same issue. No references get added to any dll in the project. Moreover in the packages folder there are no dll - the xml files make it over though. However if i go into the nupkg, rename to .zip and open i can see the dll where they are supposed to be. I also run vs as admin generally - the package install also fails from command line (not that i expected anything different)
Extra edit: Also other nuget packages are working. Im progressing ohter areas which are also package heavy. Its just this one package that is giving me problems.
console log on installing the pacakge
Attempting to gather dependency information for package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' with respect to project 'ConsoleApplication1', targeting '.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2'
Attempting to resolve dependencies for package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' with DependencyBehavior 'Lowest'
Resolving actions to install package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555'
Resolved actions to install package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555'
Adding package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' to folder 'M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages'
Added package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' to folder 'M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages'
Added package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' to 'packages.config'
Successfully installed 'Google.ProtocolBuffers 2.4.1.555' to ConsoleApplication1
========== Finished ==========
folder structure (abridged for sanity)
> dir /s
Volume in drive M is steam
Volume Serial Number is 747C-43B4
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages\Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
16/04/2016 15:04 2,731,847 Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555.nupkg
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> lib
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> tools
1 File(s) 2,731,847 bytes
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages\Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555\lib
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> cf20
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> cf35
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> net20
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> net35
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> net40
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> portable-net40+sl4+sl5+wp7+wp8+win8
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> sl20
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> sl30
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> sl40
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages\Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555\lib\cf20
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
19/10/2015 20:39 71,034 Google.ProtocolBuffers.Serialization.xml
19/10/2015 20:39 282,553 Google.ProtocolBuffers.xml
2 File(s) 353,587 bytes
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages\Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555\lib\cf35
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
19/10/2015 20:39 71,034 Google.ProtocolBuffers.Serialization.xml
19/10/2015 20:39 282,553 Google.ProtocolBuffers.xml
2 File(s) 353,587 bytes
...
<snip>
...
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages\Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555\tools
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
19/10/2015 20:39 6,779 CHANGES.txt
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> google
19/10/2015 20:39 1,672 license.txt
19/10/2015 20:39 1,857 protoc-license.txt
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> tutorial
3 File(s) 10,308 bytes
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages\Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555\tools\google
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> protobuf
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages\Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555\tools\google\protobuf
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> compiler
19/10/2015 20:39 4,301 csharp_options.proto
19/10/2015 20:39 21,880 descriptor.proto
2 File(s) 26,181 bytes
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages\Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555\tools\google\protobuf\compiler
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
19/10/2015 20:39 7,736 plugin.proto
1 File(s) 7,736 bytes
Directory of M:\programming\general\git\akka-cluster-homebrew\ConsoleApplication1\packages\Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555\tools\tutorial
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> .
16/04/2016 15:04 <DIR> ..
19/10/2015 20:39 754 addressbook.proto
1 File(s) 754 bytes
Total Files Listed:
26 File(s) 5,960,765 bytes
50 Dir(s) 26,398,302,208 bytes free
ok i found this page eventually: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/1656768/installing-certain-nuget-packages-fails-to-actually-extract-the-dll-files-to-the-relevant-lib-folder-and-fails-to-add-an-assembly-reference-to-the-csproj-file
I did 2 things as a result
1) goto %userprofile%\.nuget and delete the packages folder (but bear in mind i had already done that and not fixed it alone). I noticed that the version in here reflected the problems i was having - moreover as i deleted this previously i know simply deleting this folder was not sufficient.
2) in admin mode vs dev command prompt "devenv /resetuserdata"
new solution 4.5.2, console and worked first time.
What caused this? Not the foggiest.
btw the consoel output from installing the package is now:
Attempting to gather dependency information for package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' with respect to project 'ConsoleApplication2', targeting '.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2'
Attempting to resolve dependencies for package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' with DependencyBehavior 'Lowest'
Resolving actions to install package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555'
Resolved actions to install package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555'
GET https://api.nuget.org/packages/google.protocolbuffers.2.4.1.555.nupkg
OK https://api.nuget.org/packages/google.protocolbuffers.2.4.1.555.nupkg 14ms
Installing Google.ProtocolBuffers 2.4.1.555.
Adding package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' to folder 'c:\users\john\documents\visual studio 2015\Projects\ConsoleApplication2\packages'
Added package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' to folder 'c:\users\john\documents\visual studio 2015\Projects\ConsoleApplication2\packages'
Added package 'Google.ProtocolBuffers.2.4.1.555' to 'packages.config'
Successfully installed 'Google.ProtocolBuffers 2.4.1.555' to ConsoleApplication2
========== Finished ==========