Open Software Solutions

Source: Microsoft Support

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You use MSBuild on the command line and pass an XML file containing the build project.  Rather than building a .sln directly, the XML project file contains an MSBuild task. Specify /p:platform=[some platform name] or /p:configuration=[some configuration name] in the command line, or specify these as global properties to the MSBuild task.

The following, or similar, error may be thrown:
CSC : error CS0006: Metadata file ‘… <dependency_file_name>’ could not be found.

If the platform or configuration name properties are not found in the solution file, the step of scanning for dependencies is skipped.  Thus, the dependency relationships are not maintained and projects may build out of order.

MSBuild produces the temporary solution object with everything at the same dependency level, then builds it with the properties specified.

There are several workarounds available depending on different scenarios:

1. Modify the solution file (which may contain a mixture of project types) so that it contains a configuration that matches the name to be passed on the command line.

2. In the .xml file, instead of using the MSBuild task, use the Exec task to launch msbuild.exe on the solution.The potential disadvantages of this are that logging won’t work so well. Also the multiprocessor build will not be synchronised.

3. Build the solution file directly, i.e. msbuild.exe mysolution.sln /p:xx=yy … without an .xml file involved.

4. Build all the projects in the solution with the MSBuild task in the .xml file instead of building the .sln file.

MSBuild Command Line Reference (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms164311.aspx)
MSBuild Project File Schema Reference (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/5dy88c2e.aspx)

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