asp.net core - Include all dependencies using dotnet pack

Question

Is there any way to force dotnet pack to include all referenced assemblies (all dependencies in project.json)?

I believe this is related:

• https://github.com/dotnet/cli/issues/1290
• https://github.com/dotnet/cli/issues/3959

Answer 1

As of 2020 there is no officially supported way to do this. However various people have come up with ways to achieve it, and the current best way is to install a NuGet package prepared by the amazing Teroneko. Then all you need to do is edit your .csproj to update all your project to be flagged with PrivateAssets="all", as per the package README.

---

If you are unable to install the aforementioned NuGet package, you can achieve the same effect by editing by editing your .csproj to include the following (once again, this was discovered by Teroneko - it's essentially what the NuGet package he created does):

<Project>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput);CopyProjectReferencesToPackage</TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>
  </PropertyGroup>
  
  <Target Name="CopyProjectReferencesToPackage" DependsOnTargets="BuildOnlySettings;ResolveReferences">
    <ItemGroup>
      <!-- Filter out unnecessary files -->
      <_ReferenceCopyLocalPaths Include="@(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths->WithMetadataValue('ReferenceSourceTarget', 'ProjectReference')->WithMetadataValue('PrivateAssets', 'All'))"/>
    </ItemGroup>

    <!-- Print batches for debug purposes -->
    <Message Text="Batch for .nupkg: ReferenceCopyLocalPaths = @(_ReferenceCopyLocalPaths), ReferenceCopyLocalPaths.DestinationSubDirectory = %(_ReferenceCopyLocalPaths.DestinationSubDirectory) Filename = %(_ReferenceCopyLocalPaths.Filename) Extension = %(_ReferenceCopyLocalPaths.Extension)" Importance="High" Condition="'@(_ReferenceCopyLocalPaths)' != ''" />

    <ItemGroup>
      <!-- Add file to package with consideration of sub folder. If empty, the root folder is chosen. -->
      <BuildOutputInPackage Include="@(_ReferenceCopyLocalPaths)" TargetPath="%(_ReferenceCopyLocalPaths.DestinationSubDirectory)"/>
    </ItemGroup>
  </Target>
</Project>

As with the package, you then mark the depended-upon project reference(s) in your .csproj with PrivateAssets="all", and it Just Works(tm).