Styjun

For a console application project targeting .NET Core 1.0, I cannot figure out how to get an .exe to output during build. Project runs fine in debug.

I've tried publishing the project but that does not work either. Makes sense since .exe would be platform-specific, but there must be a way. My searches have only turned up reference to older .Net Core versions that used project.json.

Whenever I build or publish, this is all I get.

For debugging purposes, you can use the dll file. You can run it using dotnet ConsoleApp2.dll. If you want to generate an exe, you have to generate a self-contained application.

To generate a self-contained application (exe in windows), you must specify the target runtime (which is specific to the OS you target).

Pre-.NET Core 2.0 only: First, add the runtime identifier of the target runtimes in the csproj (list of supported rid):

<PropertyGroup>
 <RuntimeIdentifiers>win10-x64;ubuntu.16.10-x64</RuntimeIdentifiers>
</PropertyGroup>

The above step is no longer required starting with .NET Core 2.0.

Then, set the desired runtime when you publish your application:

dotnet publish -c Release -r win10-x64
dotnet publish -c Release -r ubuntu.16.10-x64

For anyone that's using Visual Studio and wants to do this via GUI, see the steps below:

The following will produce, in the output directory,

• all the package references


• the output assembly


• the bootstrapping exe

But does not contain all netcore runtime assemblies

<PropertyGroup>
 <Temp>$(SolutionDir)packaging</Temp>
</PropertyGroup>

<ItemGroup>
 <BootStrapFiles Include="$(Temp)hostpolicy.dll;$(Temp)$(ProjectName).exe;$(Temp)hostfxr.dll;"/>
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="GenerateNetcoreExe"
 AfterTargets="Build"
 Condition="'$(IsNestedBuild)' != 'true'">
 <RemoveDir Directories="$(Temp)" />
 <Exec
 ConsoleToMSBuild="true"
 Command="dotnet build $(ProjectPath) -r win-x64 /p:CopyLocalLockFileAssemblies=false;IsNestedBuild=true --output $(Temp)" >
 <Output TaskParameter="ConsoleOutput" PropertyName="OutputOfExec" />
 </Exec>
 <Copy
 SourceFiles="@(BootStrapFiles)"
 DestinationFolder="$(OutputPath)"
 />

</Target>

i wrapped it up in a sample here https://github.com/SimonCropp/NetCoreConsole

If a .bat file is acceptable, you can create a bat file with the same name as the dll (and place it in the same folder), then paste in the following content:

dotnet %0.dll %*

Obviously, this assumes that the machine has .NET Core installed.

Call it without the '.bat' part. i.e.: c:>"pathtoprogram" -args blah
(this answer is derived from Chet's comment)

Here's my hacky workaround - generate a Console Application (.NET Framework) that reads its own name and args, then calls dotnet [nameOfExe].dll [args]

Of course this assumes that dotnet is installed on the target machine.

Here's the code, feel free to copy!

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Text;

namespace dotNetLauncher

 class Program
 
 /*
 If you make .net core apps, they have to be launched like dotnet blah.dll args here
 This is a convenience exe that launches .net core apps via name.exe
 Just rename the output exe to the name of the .net core dll you wish to launch
 */
 static void Main(string[] args)
 
 var exePath = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
 var exeName = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName;
 var assemblyName = exeName.Substring(0, exeName.Length - 4);
 StringBuilder passInArgs = new StringBuilder();
 foreach(var arg in args)
 
 bool needsSurroundingQuotes = false;
 if (arg.Contains(" ") 
 string callingArgs = $""exePathassemblyName.dll" passInArgs.ToString().Trim()";

 var p = new Process
 
 StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("dotnet", callingArgs)
 
 UseShellExecute = false
 
 ;

 p.Start();
 p.WaitForExit();