How to make MSBuild to automatically copy all indirect references to output (bin) folder

.net msbuild build-automation dependencies reference
Alex Yakunin picture Alex Yakunin · Sep 15, 2009 · Viewed 9.7k times · Source

Subj.

"Automatically" is essential here. References from GAC must not be copied.

I've seen e.g. VS2008.NET: Getting a referenced project’s dependencies to copy to main project’s bin folder, and this isn't interesting for me. I'd like all the dependencies get copied automatically.

Answer

C Johnson picture C Johnson · Apr 2, 2018

For C++ projects, i.e. *.vcxproj set the <OutDir> property.

for C# projects, i.e. *.csproj set the <OutputPath> property.

Make sure nothing overwrites those properties. In all my years doing builds for major, large products, I've never had to do anything different. If you have to do any other clever hack, you are surely doing something wrong.

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