Reference another project (tool) but not make it available in referencing project

[vladd]

I've got the following setup:

Solution
    ToolProject
    LibraryProject
    MainAppProject

LibraryProject is a .NET library referenced by .NET MainAppProject.
ToolProject is a .NET project too, it compiles to an executable which is sometimes run by the LibraryProject (I cannot link against ToolProject because it needs a different bitness).

Now, I want the output of ToolProject be available for the MainApp (as a transitive dependency of LibraryProject).

For it, I tried using

<ProjectReference Include="..\ToolProject.csproj">
    <ReferenceOutputAssembly>False</ReferenceOutputAssembly>
</ProjectReference>

in LibraryProject.csproj, but this way only Tool.exe is copied to the target folder, not the other files.

I tried using

<ProjectReference Include="..\ToolProject.csproj">
    <ReferenceOutputAssembly>True</ReferenceOutputAssembly>
    <OutputItemType>Content</OutputItemType>
    <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</ProjectReference>

This achieves the job, but it has an unfortunate effect that the classes from ToolProject become available in the LibraryProject, which is very misleading and leads to conflicts.

The question: is it possible to reference the ToolProject so that it will be used as a dependency from the project point of view (compile order, copying to the output, etc.), but will not be visible in the LibraryProject's source code?

[rainersigwald]

This isn't very easy right now. The main tracking bug is dotnet/runtime#53834.

[JanKrivanek]

It sounds like you want DisableTransitiveProjectReferences https://github.com/dotnet/msbuild/blob/main/documentation/wiki/Controlling-Dependencies-Behavior.md#access-to-transitive-project-references - is that what you are looking for?

[vladd]

@JanKrivanek This seems pretty close. With DisableTransitiveProjectReferences I can disallow references to the downstream projects (in my case, to the libraries which are used by ToolProject). But what I actually need is disabling references to the ToolProject itself, too.

[JanKrivanek]

@vladd - If I understand you correctly - you are interested only in copying the build outputs, without exposing the reference public surface to other project(s) in the build - is that correct? There is no short-cut reference metadata support for those requirements. You'd need to write a custom target yourself (that copies the content of the OutputPath after build to the directory of interest). But perhaps the Artifacts output layout might help you achieve what you are looking for?

[vladd]

@JanKrivanek

you are interested only in copying the build outputs, without exposing the reference public surface to other project(s) in the build - is that correct?

Exactly, this is my goal.

You'd need to write a custom target yourself (that copies the content of the OutputPath after build to the directory of interest).

Well, this is perhaps going to be tricky, as I would need to specify the build order dependency somehow, right?

[JanKrivanek]

You should still be able to use the ReferenceOutputAssembly to guarantee the build order. The deps copying would however be on you.

But please try to first have a look on Artifacts output layout to see if it can help you achive your goal.