Ubuntu Manpage: This article applies to: ✔️ .NET Core 3.1 SDK and later versions

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dotnet build

       This article applies to: ✔️ .NET Core 3.1 SDK and later versions

NAME

       dotnet-build - Builds a project and all of its dependencies.

SYNOPSIS

              dotnet build [<PROJECT>|<SOLUTION>] [-a|--arch <ARCHITECTURE>]
                  [-c|--configuration <CONFIGURATION>] [-f|--framework <FRAMEWORK>]
                  [--force] [--interactive] [--no-dependencies] [--no-incremental]
                  [--no-restore] [--nologo] [--no-self-contained] [--os <OS>]
                  [-o|--output <OUTPUT_DIRECTORY>] [-r|--runtime <RUNTIME_IDENTIFIER>]
                  [--self-contained [true|false]] [--source <SOURCE>] [--use-current-runtime, --ucr [true|false]]
                  [-v|--verbosity <LEVEL>] [--version-suffix <VERSION_SUFFIX>]

              dotnet build -h|--help

DESCRIPTION

The dotnet build command builds the project and its dependencies into a set of binaries. The binaries
include the project’s code in Intermediate Language (IL) files with a .dll extension. Depending on the
project type and settings, other files may be included, such as:

• An executable that can be used to run the application, if the project type is an executable targeting
.NET Core 3.0 or later.

• Symbol files used for debugging with a .pdb extension.

• A .deps.json file, which lists the dependencies of the application or library.

• A .runtimeconfig.json file, which specifies the shared runtime and its version for an application.

• Other libraries that the project depends on (via project references or NuGet package references).

For executable projects targeting versions earlier than .NET Core 3.0, library dependencies from NuGet
are typically NOT copied to the output folder. They’re resolved from the NuGet global packages folder at
run time. With that in mind, the product of dotnet build isn’t ready to be transferred to another ma‐
chine to run. To create a version of the application that can be deployed, you need to publish it (for
example, with the dotnet publish command). For more information, see .NET Application Deployment.

For executable projects targeting .NET Core 3.0 and later, library dependencies are copied to the output
folder. This means that if there isn’t any other publish-specific logic (such as Web projects have), the
build output should be deployable.

Implicit restore
Building requires the project.assets.json file, which lists the dependencies of your application. The
file is created when dotnet restore is executed. Without the assets file in place, the tooling can’t re‐
solve reference assemblies, which results in errors.

You don’t have to run dotnet restore because it’s run implicitly by all commands that require a restore
to occur, such as dotnet new, dotnet build, dotnet run, dotnet test, dotnet publish, and dotnet pack. To
disable implicit restore, use the --no-restore option.

The dotnet restore command is still useful in certain scenarios where explicitly restoring makes sense,
such as continuous integration builds in Azure DevOps Services or in build systems that need to explicit‐
ly control when the restore occurs.

For information about how to manage NuGet feeds, see the dotnet restore documentation.

This command supports the dotnet restore options when passed in the long form (for example, --source).
Short form options, such as -s, are not supported.

Executable or library output
Whether the project is executable or not is determined by the <OutputType> property in the project file.
The following example shows a project that produces executable code:

To produce a library, omit the <OutputType> property or change its value to Library. The IL DLL for a
library doesn’t contain entry points and can’t be executed.

MSBuild
dotnet build uses MSBuild to build the project, so it supports both parallel and incremental builds. For
more information, see Incremental Builds.

In addition to its options, the dotnet build command accepts MSBuild options, such as -p for setting
properties or -l to define a logger. For more information about these options, see the MSBuild Command-
Line Reference. Or you can also use the dotnet msbuild command.

When dotnet build is run automatically by dotnet run, arguments like -property:property=value
aren’t respected.

Running dotnet build is equivalent to running dotnet msbuild -restore; however, the default verbosity of
the output is different.

Workload manifest downloads
When you run this command, it initiates an asynchronous background download of advertising manifests for
workloads. If the download is still running when this command finishes, the download is stopped. For
more information, see Advertising manifests.

ARGUMENTS

       PROJECT | SOLUTION

       The project or solution file to build.  If a project or solution file isn’t specified,  MSBuild  searches
       the  current  working  directory for a file that has a file extension that ends in either proj or sln and
       uses that file.

OPTIONS

       • -a|--arch <ARCHITECTURE>

         Specifies the target architecture.  This is a shorthand  syntax  for  setting  the  Runtime  Identifier
         (RID),  where  the provided value is combined with the default RID.  For example, on a win-x64 machine,
         specifying --arch x86 sets the RID to win-x86.  If you use this option, don’t use the -r|--runtime  op‐
         tion.  Available since .NET 6 Preview 7.

       • -c|--configuration <CONFIGURATION>

         Defines  the  build  configuration.   The  default for most projects is Debug, but you can override the
         build configuration settings in your project.

       • -f|--framework <FRAMEWORK>

         Compiles for a specific framework.  The framework must be  defined  in  the  project  file.   Examples:
         net7.0, net462.

       • --force

         Forces  all  dependencies to be resolved even if the last restore was successful.  Specifying this flag
         is the same as deleting the project.assets.json file.

       • -?|-h|--help

         Prints out a description of how to use the command.

       • --interactive

         Allows the command to stop and wait for user input or action.  For example, to complete authentication.
         Available since .NET Core 3.0 SDK.

       • --no-dependencies

         Ignores project-to-project (P2P) references and only builds the specified root project.

       • --no-incremental

         Marks the build as unsafe for incremental build.  This  flag  turns  off  incremental  compilation  and
         forces a clean rebuild of the project’s dependency graph.

       • --no-restore

         Doesn’t execute an implicit restore during build.

       • --nologo

         Doesn’t display the startup banner or the copyright message.

       • --no-self-contained

         Publishes  the application as a framework dependent application.  A compatible .NET runtime must be in‐
         stalled on the target machine to run the application.  Available since .NET 6 SDK.

       • -o|--output <OUTPUT_DIRECTORY>

         Directory in which to place the built binaries.  If not specified, the default path is  ./bin/<configu‐
         ration>/<framework>/.   For  projects with multiple target frameworks (via the TargetFrameworks proper‐
         ty), you also need to define --framework when you specify this option.

       • --os <OS>

         Specifies the target operating system (OS).  This is a shorthand syntax for setting the Runtime Identi‐
         fier (RID), where the provided value is combined with the default RID.  For example, on a  win-x64  ma‐
         chine,  specifying  --os  linux  sets  the  RID  to  linux-x64.   If you use this option, don’t use the
         -r|--runtime option.  Available since .NET 6.

       • -r|--runtime <RUNTIME_IDENTIFIER>

         Specifies the target runtime.  For a list of Runtime Identifiers (RIDs), see the RID catalog.   If  you
         use  this  option with .NET 6 SDK, use --self-contained or --no-self-contained also.  If not specified,
         the default is to build for the current OS and architecture.

       • --self-contained [true|false]

         Publishes the .NET runtime with the application so the runtime doesn’t need to be installed on the tar‐
         get machine.  The default is true if a runtime identifier is specified.  Available since .NET 6 SDK.

       • --source <SOURCE>

         The URI of the NuGet package source to use during the restore operation.

       • -v|--verbosity <LEVEL>

         Sets the verbosity level of the command.  Allowed values are q[uiet], m[inimal], n[ormal],  d[etailed],
         and  diag[nostic].   The  default  is  minimal.  For more information, see <xref:Microsoft.Build.Frame‐
         work.LoggerVerbosity>.

       • --use-current-runtime, --ucr [true|false]

         Sets the RuntimeIdentifier to a platform portable RuntimeIdentifier based on the one of  your  machine.
         This  happens  implicitly with properties that require a RuntimeIdentifier, such as SelfContained, Pub‐
         lishAot, PublishSelfContained, PublishSingleFile, and PublishReadyToRun.  If the  property  is  set  to
         false, that implicit resolution will no longer occur.

       • --version-suffix <VERSION_SUFFIX>

         Sets  the  value of the $(VersionSuffix) property to use when building the project.  This only works if
         the $(Version) property isn’t set.  Then, $(Version) is set to the $(VersionPrefix) combined  with  the
         $(VersionSuffix), separated by a dash.

EXAMPLES

       • Build a project and its dependencies:

                dotnet build

       • Build a project and its dependencies using Release configuration:

                dotnet build --configuration Release

       • Build a project and its dependencies for a specific runtime (in this example, Ubuntu 18.04):

                dotnet build --runtime ubuntu.18.04-x64

       • Build the project and use the specified NuGet package source during the restore operation:

                dotnet build --source c:\packages\mypackages

       • Build the project and set version 1.2.3.4 as a build parameter using the -p MSBuild option:

                dotnet build -p:Version=1.2.3.4

                                                   2022-10-21                                    dotnet-build(1)