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The target "_ConvertPdbFiles" listed in a BeforeTargets attribute at "C:\..." does not exist in the project, and will be ignored

• Edit

Jack

27 Apr, 2016 01:26 PM

Our builds are AppVeyor are generating warnings not reproducible in local developer environments (see below for an example).

What is the root cause of these warnings, and how can we fix (or suppress) these warnings?

I've done a preliminary search and technical investigation how to resolve this problem, but no obvious solution jumps out yet.

For convenience, here's a link to an AppVeyor build line number that shows these warnings: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/nanomsg/nanomsg/build/0.8.78/job/bx9yca9vvw5bppiw#L83

To demonstrate the extent of this problem, search that page for the text "and will be ignored" (208 results)

And a link to `.appveyor.yml` (the account is configured to use this custom filename): https://github.com/nanomsg/nanomsg/blob/master/.appveyor.yml

And in case it's related, a link to the CMake script invoked for the build: https://github.com/nanomsg/nanomsg/blob/master/CMakeLists.txt

So that others might easily find this issue in a web search, here's a representative dump of some of the warnings:
```
The target "_ConvertPdbFiles" listed in a BeforeTargets attribute at "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\Xamarin.Common.targets (34,37)" does not exist in the project, and will be ignored.
The target "_CollectPdbFiles" listed in an AfterTargets attribute at "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\Xamarin.Common.targets (34,70)" does not exist in the project, and will be ignored.
The target "_CollectMdbFiles" listed in a BeforeTargets attribute at "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\Xamarin.Common.targets (40,38)" does not exist in the project, and will be ignored.
The target "_CopyMdbFiles" listed in an AfterTargets attribute at "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\Xamarin.Common.targets (40,71)" does not exist in the project, and will be ignored.
The target "_ConvertPdbFiles" listed in a BeforeTargets attribute at "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\Xamarin.Common.targets (34,37)" does not exist in the project, and will be ignored.
The target "_CollectPdbFiles" listed in an AfterTargets attribute at "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\Xamarin.Common.targets (34,70)" does not exist in the project, and will be ignored.
The target "_CollectMdbFiles" listed in a BeforeTargets attribute at "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\Xamarin.Common.targets (40,38)" does not exist in the project, and will be ignored.
The target "_CopyMdbFiles" listed in an AfterTargets attribute at "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\Xamarin.Common.targets (40,71)" does not exist in the project, and will be ignored.
```

Thank you kindly in advance,
-JRD

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Feodor Fitsner on 27 Apr, 2016 05:33 PM

   

   Hi Jack,

   It comes from Xamarin targets and those are not warnings (meaning they are not treated by msbuild as warnings), but messages. I reported about the issue on Xamarin forums (and there were others), but didn't submit a bug: https://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/55861/stable-release-xamarin-...

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2. 2 Posted by Jack on 27 Apr, 2016 10:51 PM

   

   Any ideas on how we can disable these Xamarin targets, or otherwise change the AppVeyor environment to avoid these messages?

   Thank you,
   -JRD

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3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Feodor Fitsner on 28 Apr, 2016 01:34 AM

   

   I'm not sure if this is something we can easily fix on our side, but it should be Xamarin to fix. You can set msbuild verbosity to minimal to get rid of those messages from build log.

   Locally I have the same messages in my build logs with clean VS 2015 Update 2 + Xamarin - see attached.

   Nuget had the same issue in the past and they fixed it like that.

   • xamarin-missing-targets.png 53.4 KB
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4. 4 Posted by Jack on 28 Apr, 2016 02:00 PM

   

   Thank you for the screenshot -- this means that if I installed Xamarin locally, it could probably be reproduced, and perhaps worked-around.

   That said, Xamarin is a third-party dependency our project is not using, and in the context of this particular support case a liability for you; are there any low-barrier options for disabling/suppressing it in the AppVeyor environment?

   Kind regards,
   -JRD

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5. Support Staff 5 Posted by Feodor Fitsner on 28 Apr, 2016 05:18 PM

   

   Deleting Xamarin targets file removes those messages:

   before_build:
   - del "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\Xamarin.Common.targets"
   

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6. 6 Posted by Jack on 29 Apr, 2016 01:30 AM

   

   This hint cut an appreciable bit of noise from the output! This a viable workaround for the meantime. Thank you kindly for the help here.

   Before: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/nanomsg/nanomsg/build/0.8.78/job/bx9yca9vvw5bppiw

   After: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/nanomsg/nanomsg/build/job/k0qmtb6a6exn6hkl

   -JRD

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7. 7 Posted by chris+appveyor on 03 Jul, 2017 05:11 PM

   

   Thanks for the workaround, using it here too!

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8. Ilya Finkelshteyn closed this discussion on 25 Aug, 2018 02:18 AM.