3 xbuild \- Mono's tool to build MSBuild project files
6 [option] [project-file]
8 xbuild can be used to build MSBuild project files. Integrated Development
9 Environments like MonoDevelop and "Microsoft Visual Studio .NET" use msbuild
12 xbuild takes the path of the project or solution file to build, as the main argument.
13 If no file is specified then it tries to build any solution file or project file in
14 the current directory, that has a *proj extension.
18 List of targets to build
20 .B \//property:Name=Value
21 Set or override project properties
24 Custom logger to log build events
26 .B \//toolsversion:version , /tv:version
27 Specify the toolset version to use.
30 This would cause 4.0 version of the Microsoft.Common.targets (among others) to be used. This overrides
31 the value specified in a project file.
33 Valid values: 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0
35 .B \//verbosity:<level>
36 Logger verbosity level : quiet, minimal, normal, detailed, diagnostic
39 Validate the project file against the schema
41 .B \//validate:<schema>
42 Validate the project file against the specified schema
44 .B \//consoleloggerparameters:<params> , /clp:<params>
45 Parameters for the console logger : PerfomanceSummary, Summary, NoSummary, NoItemAndPropertyList, Verbosity
47 .B \//filelogger[n] , /fl[n]
48 Logs the output to a file, named 'msbuild.log' by default. If the optional number 'n' is
49 specified, then it logs to 'msbuild[n].log' . Parameters for this logger, including
50 the log file name can be specified via a corresponding /flp[n] option. Default verbosity
51 for file loggers is 'detailed. 'n' can be between 1-9.
53 .B \//fileloggerparameters[n]:<params> , /flp[n]:<params>
54 Parameters for a file logger. This implies a corresponding /fl[n]. 'n' can be between
55 1-9, and is used to add upto 10 file loggers. Parameters can be, besides the ones available
60 File to which the build log will be written.
63 If this is used, then the log file is appended to, else a new one will be created.
65 .I Encoding=<encoding>
66 Encoding to use for the log file, eg. UTF-8, ASCII.
68 Eg: xbuild foo.csproj /flp:Verbosity=normal "/flp1:LogFile=build.log;Append;Encoding=ASCII"
72 Don't show the initial xbuild banner
78 Display xbuild version
79 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
81 .I "XBUILD_EMIT_SOLUTION"
82 If this variable is set, then the project file generated from a solution
85 .I "XBUILD_LOG_REFERENCE_RESOLVER"
86 References are resolved by trying a list of assembly search paths ($(AssemblySearchPaths)).
87 If xbuild is unable to resolve a reference, then it logs details of why the various
88 search paths failed. If this variable is set, then it logs the same even for references
89 that were resolved successfully. These logs show up if the verbosity is set to detailed
92 .I "MSBuildExtensionsPath"
93 MSBuild extensions are usually installed in $(MSBuildExtensionsPath), which xbuild resolves
94 to $prefix/lib/mono/xbuild . When used in Import, like:
96 <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\\TestTargets.targets"/>
98 xbuild tries various values for the msbuild property $(MSBuildExtensionsPath), in order:
100 1. Paths specified in the environment variable $MSBuildExtensionsPath.
101 2. /Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/External/xbuild on Mac OSX.
102 3. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/xbuild/tasks (or Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData)
103 4. $prefix/lib/mono/xbuild (default location)
105 Anywhere else in the project files, $(MSBuildExtensionsPath) will always resolve to the default
106 location. This is a xbuild-only feature.
107 This is also applicable for the properties $(MSBuildExtensionsPath32) and $(MSBuildExtensionsPath64),
108 and the environment variables have the corresponding names - MSBuildExtensionsPath32/64 .
110 .I "XBUILD_FRAMEWORK_FOLDERS_PATH"
111 With ToolsVersion 4.0, projects can target arbitrary frameworks referenced by TargetFrameworkMoniker,
112 which is of the format:
114 Identifier,Version=<version>[,Profile=<profile>]
116 Eg. ".NETFramework,Version=v4.0"
118 The 3 parts of the moniker are given by the msbuild properties:
120 $(TargetFrameworkIdentifier), $(TargetFrameworkVersion) and $(TargetFrameworkProfile)
122 This moniker maps to a framework description file on disk:
124 <framework_root>/Identifier/Version/[Profile]/RedistList/FrameworkList.xml
126 This file is used to determine the path where to find the framework assemblies for this particular framework.
128 Framework root here is configurable and is resolved in the following order:
131 1. Paths specified in the environment variable $XBUILD_FRAMEWORK_FOLDERS_PATH
132 2. /Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/External/xbuild-frameworks on Mac OSX.
133 3. MSBuild property $(TargetFrameworkRoot)
134 4. $prefix/lib/mono/xbuild-frameworks (default location)
137 XBuild tries the paths given above, in order, till it finds a FrameworkList.xml for the moniker.
138 Running with /v:detailed or higher verbosity will show the various paths that it tries.
140 The FrameworkList.xml itself just has a root element like:
142 <FileList Name=".NET Framework 3.5" TargetFrameworkDirectory="..\\..\\..\\..\\3.5" IncludeFramework="v3.0">
145 Here the TargetFrameworkDirectory attribute specifies the directory where the assemblies for
146 this particular framework can be found. If this is not set, then the parent of the folder
147 containing the xml file is taken as the framework directory.
149 IncludeFramework attribute specifies the version of a framework (under the *same* $(TargetFrameworkIdentifier))
150 which should be included in the final list of Target framework directories.
154 If this variable is set, it contains a string of the form
155 "type=foreground,type=.." that specifies which color to use to display
156 errors/warnings etc on some terminals. Type here can be:
159 errors, warnings, messages or events
161 events: These are project/target/task start and end event
166 The possible colors for foreground are:
167 .B black, red, brightred, green, brightgreen, yellow, brightyellow,
168 blue, brightblue, magenta, brightmagenta, cyan, brightcyan, grey,
169 white and brightwhite.
172 For example, you could set this variable from your shell:
175 XBUILD_COLORS=errors=brightred,warnings=blue
179 You can disable the built-in color scheme by setting this variable to
183 On Mac OSX, for locating pkg-config (.pc) files, xbuild additionally
184 looks in "/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/External/pkgconfig" .
189 Copyright (C) 2011 Novell, Inc (http://www.novell.com)
191 Visit http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/mono-devel-list for details.
193 Visit: http://www.mono-project.com for details