[msbuild] `<WriteItemsToFile/>` task creates empty outputs for Windows #22741

jonathanpeppers · 2025-05-06T14:18:31Z

Context: #19611

Ignoring tasks related to AOT and trimming, one of the slower steps during a remote iOS build from Windows for me is:

Task _CoreCompileImageAssets 524ms
Building target "_CoreCompileImageAssets" completely.
Output file "obj\Debug\net9.0-ios\iossimulator-arm64\actool\_PartialAppManifest.items" does not exist.

When building locally on Mac, the same build will say:

Target _CoreCompileImageAssets
Skipping target "_CoreCompileImageAssets" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.

The MSBuild target has the code:

<Target Name="_CoreCompileImageAssets"
    Inputs="@(ImageAsset);$(_TemporaryAppManifest)"
    Outputs="$(_ACTool_PartialAppManifestCache);$(_ACTool_BundleResourceCache)"
    ...>

    <ACTool ... />

    <WriteItemsToFile Items="@(_ACTool_PartialAppManifest)" ... />
    <WriteItemsToFile Items="@(_ACTool_BundleResources)" ... />
    <ItemGroup>
        <FileWrites Include="$(_ACTool_PartialAppManifestCache);$(_ACTool_BundleResourceCache)" />
    </ItemGroup>
</Target>

I think all that needs to be done is to implement ITaskCallback in the <WriteItemsToFile/> MSBuild task:

public bool ShouldCreateOutputFile (ITaskItem item) => true;

I updated WindowsTest.cs to verify that the
_CoreCompileImageAssets MSBuild target is skipped on incremental builds.

Context: #19611 Ignoring tasks related to AOT and trimming, one of the slower steps during a remote iOS build from Windows for me is: Task _CoreCompileImageAssets 524ms Building target "_CoreCompileImageAssets" completely. Output file "obj\Debug\net9.0-ios\iossimulator-arm64\actool\_PartialAppManifest.items" does not exist. When building locally on Mac, the same build will say: Target _CoreCompileImageAssets Skipping target "_CoreCompileImageAssets" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files. The MSBuild target has the code: <Target Name="_CoreCompileImageAssets" Inputs="@(ImageAsset);$(_TemporaryAppManifest)" Outputs="$(_ACTool_PartialAppManifestCache);$(_ACTool_BundleResourceCache)" ...> <ACTool ... /> <WriteItemsToFile Items="@(_ACTool_PartialAppManifest)" ... /> <WriteItemsToFile Items="@(_ACTool_BundleResources)" ... /> <ItemGroup> <FileWrites Include="$(_ACTool_PartialAppManifestCache);$(_ACTool_BundleResourceCache)" /> </ItemGroup> </Target> I think all that needs to be done is to implement `ITaskCallback` in the `<WriteItemsToFile/>` MSBuild task: public bool ShouldCreateOutputFile (ITaskItem item) => true; I updated `WindowsTest.cs` to verify that the `_CoreCompileImageAssets` MSBuild target is skipped on incremental builds.

emaf · 2025-05-06T14:29:32Z

msbuild/Xamarin.MacDev.Tasks/Tasks/WriteItemsToFile.cs

+		public bool ShouldCopyToBuildServer (ITaskItem item) => false;
+
+		//We want empty output files to be created in Windows
+		public bool ShouldCreateOutputFile (ITaskItem item) => true;


Remote tasks create empty output files by default for each ITaskItem output property, so this should not be needed.

@emaf is there a deeper problem here? It's not working in this log:

RecipeFinder_Debug_AnyCPU_net9.0-ios_Build_2025-05-05T16_03_13.6534537-05_00.zip

It seems to be copying the outputs and run the write items locally because of the missing SessionId, as Ema mentioned:

Somehow:

Output file "obj\Debug\net9.0-ios\iossimulator-arm64\actool\_PartialAppManifest.items" does not exist.

Going to leave this open and review what my test changes did.

emaf · 2025-05-06T14:33:24Z

WriteItemsToFile should be executed locally on Windows for _CoreCompileImageAssets as we are not passing a SessionId, so it should be creating the files locally 😕 . Could you share your binlog?

vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2025-05-06T14:51:12Z

✅ [CI Build #1b69c18] Build passed (Build packages) ✅

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2025-05-06T14:52:47Z

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2025-05-06T15:18:27Z

✅ API diff for current PR / commit

.NET ( No breaking changes )

iOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
tvOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
MacCatalyst: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
macOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )

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iOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
tvOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
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macOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2025-05-06T15:22:39Z

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2025-05-06T15:31:40Z

💻 [CI Build #1b69c18] Tests on macOS X64 - Mac Sonoma (14) passed 💻

✅ All tests on macOS X64 - Mac Sonoma (14) passed.

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2025-05-06T15:35:12Z

💻 [CI Build #1b69c18] Tests on macOS M1 - Mac Monterey (12) passed 💻

✅ All tests on macOS M1 - Mac Monterey (12) passed.

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2025-05-06T15:38:31Z

💻 [CI Build #1b69c18] Tests on macOS M1 - Mac Ventura (13) passed 💻

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2025-05-06T16:07:29Z

🔥 [CI Build #fda8a09] Test results 🔥

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jonathanpeppers

My test works! This part is useful at least:

Xamarin.Tests.WindowsTest.BundleStructureWithRemoteMac(iOS,"ios-arm64",All,"Debug") (Failed): The target '_CoreCompileImageAssets' was unexpectedly executed (_CoreCompileImageAssets Rebuild 1)

vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2025-05-06T16:18:50Z

💻 [CI Build #1b69c18] Tests on macOS arm64 - Mac Sequoia (15) passed 💻

✅ All tests on macOS arm64 - Mac Sequoia (15) passed.

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Hash: 1b69c182c1acb938acb471108d761a826b5934e5 [PR build]

jonathanpeppers · 2025-05-06T16:51:18Z

Going to close this one and address this one instead:

[Windows build perf] _CompileAppManifest is always executed #19607

I'll probably reuse the test.

jonathanpeppers and others added 2 commits May 6, 2025 09:08

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[msbuild] introduce _CompileAppManifestInputs #22745

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[msbuild] <WriteItemsToFile/> task creates empty outputs for Windows #22741

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💻 [CI Build #1b69c18] Tests on macOS M1 - Mac Monterey (12) passed 💻

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💻 [CI Build #1b69c18] Tests on macOS M1 - Mac Ventura (13) passed 💻

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[msbuild] `<WriteItemsToFile/>` task creates empty outputs for Windows #22741

[msbuild] `<WriteItemsToFile/>` task creates empty outputs for Windows #22741

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