Why Build Fails with CruiseControl.NET but it builds fine manually with same settings?

[John_Idol]

I have a project that builds fine If I build it manually but it fails
with CC.NET.

This project is composed by a number of .NET projects and a few C++
dlls.

The error that shows up on CC.NET is basically related to an import
that's failing because file was not found; one of the projects (C++
dll) tries to import a dll built by another project. Dll should be in
the right place since there's a dependency between the projects -
indeed when I build manually everything works fine (Note that when I
say manually I am getting everything fresh from source code repository
then invoking a Rebuild from VS2005 to simulate CC.NET automation).
When I run through CC.NET though the dll is not in the right place (I
checked after the build failed and it was not physically in the
folder).

Looks like dependencies are ignored when the build is automated
through CC.NET.

I am building in Release MinDependency mode.

Any help would be highly appreciated!

[Ruben Willems]

Hi


can you check the project file manually?
--> open it in notepad or so, and check the reference path

I've seen in many cases that VS can compile a solution, but msbuild does not.
and in all these cases, there was a wrong path in the project file.


with kind regards
Ruben Willems

[John_Idol]

HI Ruben - thanks for helping.

What do you mean with "reference path", do you mean the reference for
the not found dll on the proejct that looks for it?
It is pointing with an import to an output folder where the other
project is supposed to copy on post build the dll. If running with
CC.NET service dll is not in this output folder - if manually It is
there (so it doesn't fail).

I will try to debug the problem using the console app instead of the
service.

Any other idea?

On Nov 12, 7:17 am, "Ruben Willems" <ruben.will...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
>
> can you check the project file manually?
> --> open it in notepad or so, and check the reference path
>
> I've seen in many cases that VS can compile a solution, but msbuild does
> not.
> and in all these cases, there was a wrong path in the project file.
>
> with kind regards
> Ruben Willems
>

[Ruben Willems]

Hi

Yep I meant that.

since you're using a postscript to copy the dll,
check how the paths are definded.
suppose you use X:\\bla bla

and X is a mapped network drive, it will not work under the service
better is to use UNC : \\servername\sharename\...


I use msbuild in my scripts, and this makes it easier to spot the problem
just run msbuild from the command line where your solution is in.

[Tim Rayment]

How are you building the solution with CruiseControl? Are you using the
MSBuild task or the devenv task?
Have you tried building from the command line without using CC.
Other things to check would be:
Environment variables
Project build order
Find out where the dlls are being built to
Check that your service account has permissions to copy files to the
output folder

Kind regards,

Tim

[John_Idol]

Thanks.

I am using devenv.

- Environment variables are fine (I am building manually with same
user the service is registered to).
- Project Build order is fine (If I remove a dependency between the
project that looks for the dll and the project that generates this dll
build order is wrong and I cannot build manually - adding this
dependency fixed build order and manually it runs fine).
- Dlls are being built to a central folder called "Output" (dll that's
missing is there when building manually it is not when it fails
through CC.NET)
- My service account is the same that I use to build manually (and I
can create stuff etc.)

How do I build manually using devenv? (never done this)

Suppose is something like devenv "solutionName.sln" "buildMode" ...

Cheers

[John_Idol]

@Ruben:

sorry I gace wrong info - the dll is sent to the output automatically
in Linker->general: $(OutDir)/myDLLName.dll
OutDir is the same for all the projects - I suspect the proj is not
being built at all thourgh CC.NET (build order is wrong - but manually
is fine, see previous answer)

On Nov 12, 8:56 am, "Ruben Willems" <ruben.will...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
>

> Yep I meant that.
>
> since you're using a postscript to copy the dll,
> check how the paths are definded.
> suppose you use X:\\bla bla
>
> and X is a mapped network drive, it will not work under the service
> better is to use UNC : \\servername\sharename\...
>
> I use msbuild in my scripts, and this makes it easier to spot the problem
> just run msbuild from the command line where your solution is in.
>
> with kind regards
> Ruben Willems
>

[Ruben Willems]

Hi

you're building 1 VS solution right?
try building it with msbuild, does this work?

msbuild solutionname /t:clean /t:build

this cleans and rebuilds the solution

with kind regards
Ruben Willems

[Tim Rayment]

Can you post the <devenv> section of your ccnet.config file to this list?

[John_Idol]

@Ruben:

I do I specify release mode with MSBuild? I need to build in release
minDependency mode

On Nov 12, 9:31 am, "Ruben Willems" <ruben.will...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
>

> you're building 1 VS solution right?
> try building it with msbuild, does this work?
>
> msbuild solutionname /t:clean /t:build
>
> this cleans and rebuilds the solution
>
> with kind regards
> Ruben Willems
>

[John_Idol]

@Tim

<devenv>
<solutionfile>Ats\mySolution.sln</solutionfile>
<configuration>"Release MinDependency"</configuration>
<buildtype>Rebuild</buildtype>
<executable>&DevEnvDotCom;</executable>
<buildTimeoutSeconds>3600</buildTimeoutSeconds>
</devenv>

[Ruben Willems]

Hi

you can do this by a property:
msbuild /p:configuration="Release MinDependency"

but I doubt that another configuration will produce another result with this problem :
dll not found

be sure to also use the tasks /t:clean /t:build

with kind regards
Ruben Willems

[John_Idol]

I am trying to runthis:

devenv "MySolution.sln" /Rebuild "Release MinDependency"

It is failing with same error as cruise control so that should be why
it is failing - looks like it is building the project in the wrong
order (when building manually it runs just fine).

I tried with MSBUILD but it's failing on a bunch of different
things ...

is there a way to find out what exact command line is being executed
by Visual Studio?

On Nov 12, 10:39 am, "Ruben Willems" <ruben.will...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
>

> you can do this by a property:
> msbuild /p:configuration="Release MinDependency"
>
> but I doubt that another configuration will produce another result with this
> problem :
> dll not found
>
> be sure to also use the tasks /t:clean /t:build
>
> with kind regards
> Ruben Willems
>

[Ruben Willems]

Hi

What you can try to solve this :
delete the <solutionname>.suo file, and open the solution again

maybe now you see the wrong references, they can be marked with an exclamation mark.

also when you build with msbuild,
the warnings should give a rather clear reason why it is failing

with kind regards
Ruben Willems

[Giovanni Idili]

@Ruben

it is an import on a C++ project so there are not (.NET style) references:

#import "myDLLName.dll" raw_interfaces_only, raw_native_types, no_namespace, named_guids, auto_search

with the msbuild I am getting a bunch of new errors - I'll try to gather information about those but I am not to confident it's the right way to solve it.

I'd rather focus on getting it working with devenv. this was working for a long time then we changed build machine and it fell apart.

Thanks for your support

--
Giovanni Idili - http://www.linkedin.com/in/giovanniidili

[Ruben Willems]

Hi

I try to use msbuild, because the error messages there are more consistent.
Devenv seems to cache dll locations once it has found a valid one.

That's why I suggested to delete that .suo file.

with kind regards
Ruben Willems

[Giovanni Idili]

@Ruben

Thanks for the advice.

Do you know if Visual Studio uses devenv or msbuild when I kick-off the build manually?

I am trying to find out how to get that command line executed when I build manually.

[Tim Rayment]

This might be a red herring, but can you provide a few details about the build environment:

Operating system (including service packs)

Version of Visual Studio (including service packs)

Any SDKs installed

 

Also if you could post the error you get from MSBuild I’ll see if I can make any sense from it…

 

Kind regards,

 

Tim

 

From: ccnet...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ccnet...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Giovanni Idili
Sent: 12 November 2008 12:33
To: ccnet...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ccnet-user] Re: Why Build Fails with CruiseControl.NET but it builds fine manually with same settings?

 

@Ruben

[Ruben Willems]

Hi

all the docs say that VS2008 uses msbuild, other versions I do not know,
VS2005 I think did not.


But how to see what arguments get passed to msbuild, ...
I have no idea.

with kind regards
Ruben Willems

[John_Idol]

@Ruben

I posted a question on stackoverflow about this:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/273836/why-build-fails-with-cruisecontrolnet-but-it-builds-fine-manually-with-same-set

and about how to get the build parameters when building manually:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/280559/how-to-get-cmd-line-build-command-for-vs-solution

@Tim

I'll follow up with details about the msbuild output.

At the moment I managed to get it building with a temporary solution:
changed from Rebuild to simple Build so that it is not wiping out the
output dir since there's another solution which is outputing the same
dll I am using the previous build for the import. It's a very bad
solution but I need to get something out today

On Nov 12, 12:49 pm, "Ruben Willems" <ruben.will...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
>

> all the docs say that VS2008 uses msbuild, other versions I do not know,
> VS2005 I think did not.
>
> But how to see what arguments get passed to msbuild, ...
> I have no idea.
>
> with kind regards
> Ruben Willems
>

> On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 1:33 PM, Giovanni Idili <giovanni.id...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > @Ruben
> > Thanks for the advice.
>
> > Do you know if Visual Studio uses devenv or msbuild when I kick-off the
> > build manually?
> > I am trying to find out how to get that command line executed when I build
> > manually.
>

> > On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 12:27 PM, Ruben Willems <ruben.will...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >> Hi
>
> >> I try to use msbuild, because the error messages there are more
> >> consistent.
> >> Devenv seems to cache dll locations once it has found a valid one.
>
> >> That's why I suggested to delete that .suo file.
>
> >> with kind regards
> >> Ruben Willems
>

> >> On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 1:20 PM, Giovanni Idili <giovanni.id...@gmail.com

> >> > wrote:
>
> >>> @Ruben
> >>> it is an import on a C++ project so there are not (.NET style)
> >>> references:
>
> >>> #import "myDLLName.dll" raw_interfaces_only, raw_native_types,
> >>> no_namespace, named_guids, auto_search
>
> >>> with the msbuild I am getting a bunch of new errors - I'll try to gather
> >>> information about those but I am not to confident it's the right way to
> >>> solve it.
>
> >>> I'd rather focus on getting it working with devenv. this was working for
> >>> a long time then we changed build machine and it fell apart.
>
> >>> Thanks for your support
>

> >>> On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 12:09 PM, Ruben Willems <ruben.will...@gmail.com

> >>> > wrote:
>
> >>>> Hi
>
> >>>> What you can try to solve this :
> >>>> delete the <solutionname>.suo file, and open the solution again
>
> >>>> maybe now you see the wrong references, they can be marked with an
> >>>> exclamation mark.
>
> >>>> also when you build with msbuild,
> >>>> the warnings should give a rather clear reason why it is failing
>
> >>>> with kind regards
> >>>> Ruben Willems
>

[Tom Owens]

Here's another thought...
I've seen similar problems using Visual Studio with Visual SourceSafe
because Visual Studio keeps it's own source control binding info (or
structure) that does not always match the structure of Visual
SourceSafe. When you open the solution with the Visual Studio IDE, it
puts all the files in the locations the solution is expecting but if
you "get" the files from VSS and build from the command line it fails
because projects aren't where the solution expects. It can be a real
bear to sort out but I can offer suggestions if it looks like that's
the issue.

-Tom

On Nov 12, 9:00 am, John_Idol <giovanni.id...@gmail.com> wrote:
> @Ruben
>

> I posted a question on stackoverflow about this:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/273836/why-build-fails-with-cruise...
>
> and about how to get the build parameters when building manually:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/280559/how-to-get-cmd-line-build-c...

> > > Giovanni Idili -http://www.linkedin.com/in/giovanniidili- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[John_Idol]

My understanding on this at current stage is that the problem is
related to the fact that I am using devenv to build through
CruiseControl.NET but when I build manually VisualStudio is using
msbuild.
Basically this causes dependencies to be ignored (because of some
msbuild command arg that I am not reproducing using devenv). I think
the fact that dependencies are set between C++ projects is relevant
too to some extent, since I've been able in other occasions to build
properly setting dependencies between .NET projects and C++ projects.

In order to figure out exactly what is generating this different
behavior I'd have to follow this lead:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/280559/how-to-get-cmd-line-build-command-for-vs-solution

I am probably gonna do it whenever I got the time - now I am pretty
busy and I got it working with a shameless hack.

Do you guys agree with this?

Thanks everyone for helping

> ...
>
> read more »

[Alex]

John,
I add another comment to your Stck Overflow question on this same
topic. I don't think setting all those variables by hand will work
since they always seem to be there for me. One thing I noticed is your
thinking that build order and dependencies are the same thing. They
are not. You need to actually go through each project and set the
dependencies. Setting the build order does nothing as it will be
ignored by both MSBuild and the Visual Studio command line. It appears
in VS 2008 the only way to set build order is through dependencies so M
$ has obvoiusly realized that this disconnect was affecting people. So
long stroy short, go through each project and make sure its
dependencies are set corrrectly.

On Nov 12, 5:30 pm, John_Idol <giovanni.id...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My understanding on this at current stage is that the problem is
> related to the fact that I am using devenv to build through
> CruiseControl.NET but when I build manually VisualStudio is using
> msbuild.
> Basically this causes dependencies to be ignored (because of some
> msbuild command arg that I am not reproducing using devenv). I think
> the fact that dependencies are set between C++ projects is relevant
> too to some extent, since I've been able in other occasions to build
> properly setting dependencies between .NET projects and C++ projects.
>
> In order to figure out exactly what is generating this different

> behavior I'd have to follow this lead:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/280559/how-to-get-cmd-line-build-c...

> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -

[Giovanni Idili]

Hi Alex - thanks for your interest in this.

I know build order and dependencies are the same thing - in fact the only way you have to affect the build order is setting dependencies project by project. I probably expressed what I meant in a convoluted way.

I went through each project and made sure dependencies were set correctly - it still did not build.

So it still goes down to the DevEnv VS MsBuild argument. I don't have much experience with cmd line, but I seem to understand it is very likely to get different results with DevEnv and MsBuild.

Cheers