dotnet build fails when the task project has dependencies

[natemcmaster]

dotnet build fails when the task project has dependencies

[BalassaMarton]

After some more experimenting, it looks like the Newtonsoft.Json dependency is causing this error, not just any dependency. But it is still unclear where to look for the problem, since Newtonsoft.Json targets both netstandard and net45.

[natemcmaster]

This is a great question, one I've received a few times. MSBuild tasks with assembly dependencies introduce a new level of complexity. I haven't addresses this one quite yet in my material, but this has been asked enough that I'm considering writing a detailed post on this subject.

In the meantime, checkout this answer to the same question: https://stackoverflow.com/a/45750930/2526265. In a nutshell, you need Newtonsoft.Json.dll in the folder next to your task assembly.

[BalassaMarton]

I got this error after copying the dlls next to the task dll. However, I've downgraded to the 9.x version of Newtonsoft.Json and now it works perfectly, so it's probably something with the dependencies of this package.

[natemcmaster]

@BalassaMarton took me a while to get this, but finally wrote up my thoughts on tasks with dependencies. See http://www.natemcmaster.com/blog/2017/11/11/msbuild-task-with-dependencies/

[BalassaMarton]

Nice article @natemcmaster