What is a .pubxml.user file?

Tim picture Tim · Apr 16, 2014 · Viewed 15.4k times · Source

I'm deciding whether to add a file to version control. It's name ends with .pubxml.user. Can anyone tell me what it is? The fill name of the file is <name of our web server>.pubxml.user. It is evidently related to the publishing configuration.

The project is in ASP.NET MVC and C#, using Visual Studio 2013. the file is in the PublishProfiles folder.

Answer

Tyler Forsythe picture Tyler Forsythe · Aug 7, 2015

Because this is a user-specific file, it should be excluded from version control. From https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff398069(v=vs.110).aspx, emphasis mine.

When you create a publish profile, two files are created in the PublishProfiles folder: .pubxml and .pubxml.user. The .pubxml.user file contains only a few settings that apply to a specific user, such as an encrypted password. By default it is not included in source control. Typically when you change settings related to a profile you edit the .pubxml file rather than the .pubxml.user file.