I'm building a NuGet package with a folder hierarchy that looks like this:
ProjectDir
Infrastructure
class1.cs
class2.cs
Task
class3.cs
class3.cs
StuffToInclude
SampleCode
sampleclass1.cs.pp
sampleclass2.cs.pp
Images
image1.gif
image2.gif
Doc
text1.txt
text2.txt
Project.nuspec
Note the nuspec file is generated simply with the "nuget spec" command, and then the following file section is added:
<files>
<file src="StuffToInclude\**\*.*" target="content" />
</files>
What I would expect (and want) is a content folder in the package that looks like this:
content
SampleCode
sampleclass1.cs.pp
sampleclass2.cs.pp
Images
image1.gif
image2.gif
Doc
text1.txt
text2.txt
What I get however is a slightly larger content folder that includes a second copy of the "StuffToInclude" folder, looking like this:
content
StuffToInclude
Images
image1.gif
image2.gif
Doc
text1.txt
text2.txt
SampleCode
sampleclass1.cs.pp
sampleclass2.cs.pp
Images
image1.gif
image2.gif
Doc
text1.txt
text2.txt
Notice that the undesired StuffToInclude folder does not have the SampleCode subfolder in it -- somehow the nuget packer figured out that ".pp" files should not be placed in the content unless explicitly asked for. But all those other files (in all the other folders) are unnecessarily duplicated and it is not desirable to have them there - because when the package is consumed, that folder is also duplicated in the target project.
I thought perhaps something like this in the nuspec would help:
<files>
<file src="StuffToInclude\**\*.*" target="content" exclude="StuffToInclude\**\*.*"/>
</files>
but all variants I have tried for the "exclude" attribute don't seem to help.
How do I exclude the "StuffToInclude" file from being included in the content folder?
Many thanks.
How to stop NuGet packaging from including unwanted files
I assume the command you use when creating the package is something like nuget pack xx.csproj
.
If so, what's the special reason you created a package based on project file after creating the .nuspec file?
According to this document, we can use nuget pack
command based on the specified .nuspec or project file
.
So usually, if we create a package based on .csproj
, there's no need to create a .nuspec
file. Also, if we want to create a package based on .nuspec
, I suggest use command nuget pack xx.nuspec
instead of nuget pack xx.csproj
.
Cause of the issue:
I've done some tests and found when we put Project.nuspec
file in project dir, and use a command like nuget pack xx.csproj
,then the nuget.exe will read data from both xx.nuspec and xx.csproj
, that's why you have a second copy.
1# Structure for nuget pack xx.csproj
if no xx.nuspec
in same directory:
content
StuffToInclude
Images
image1.gif
image2.gif
Doc
text1.txt
text2.txt
2# Structure for nuget pack xx.nuspec
:
content
SampleCode
sampleclass1.cs.pp
sampleclass2.cs.pp
Images
image1.gif
image2.gif
Doc
text1.txt
text2.txt
And when you use nuget pack
command based on project file(.csproj) where exists a ProjectName.nuspec, it reads data from both .csproj and .nuspec. so it results in the second copy like what you got.
To resolve it:
Keep the xx.nuspec file and use command like nuget pack xx.nuspec
.(suggested)
Delete the xx.nuspec file(Or delete the <Files> section
) and use command like nuget pack xx.csproj
, to include those xx.cs.pp
files into content folder, you may need to set their build action
to content
.
Keep both the xx.nuspec file and the xx.csproj file (see below) and everything you want in the xx.nuspec file, but to avoid the unwanted second copies of things, make sure that every single item you don't want copied twice is set to a Build Action
of None
.