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

[abatishchev]

Bicep version

Bicep CLI version 0.17.1 (d423d61)

Describe the bug

Following the doc for NoTargets. I've created a simple project:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.Build.NoTargets">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net7.0</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Azure.Bicep.CommandLine.win-x64" Version="0.13.1" />
    <PackageReference Include="Azure.Bicep.MSBuild" Version="0.17.1" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Bicep Include="..\Application\ServiceGroupRoot\Template\main.bicep" OutputFile="..\Application\ServiceGroupRoot\Template\ResourceProvider.json" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

However nothing happens when I press F5 in VS. When I run the following command in console:

msbuild /t:build .\src\Bicep\Bicep.proj

I'm seeing the following outputs:

MSBuild version 17.5.1+f6fdcf537 for .NET Framework
Build started 05/12/2023 23:21:43.
Included response file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise\MSBuild\Current\Bin\amd64\MSBuild.rsp

Project "src\Bicep\Bicep.proj" on node 1 (build target(s)).
BicepCompile:
Skipping target "BicepCompile" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
Done Building Project "src\Bicep\Bicep.proj" (build target(s)).

Why it's getting skipped?

[stephaniezyen]

Does the output file exist? If it is newer than the input file, it can be skipped by Visual Studio.

[majastrz]

@abatishchev, in addition to the above, can you increase the verbosity of up-to-date checks under Tools | Options and send us the logs from the Output window when this happens?

[abatishchev]

> Build started...
1>FastUpToDate: The 'DisableFastUpToDateCheck' property is 'true', not up-to-date. (Bicep)
1>FastUpToDate: Up-to-date check completed in 0.2 ms (Bicep)
1>------ Build started: Project: Bicep, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
========== Build: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========
========== Build started at 11:36 AM and took 00.597 seconds ==========

> Build started at 11:36 and took 0.417 seconds

[abatishchev]

First, I though, could this be the culprit?

But unchecking did nothing.

[abatishchev]

Flipping <DisableFastUpToDateCheck> to either true or false also did nothing.

[majastrz]

It seems that both the input and output files are outside of your project judging by their relative paths. I'm not seeing a behavior like you're observing when the input files are under the project directory and when using standard output directory.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.Build.NoTargets">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net7.0</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Azure.Bicep.CommandLine.win-x64" Version="0.17.1" />
    <PackageReference Include="Azure.Bicep.MSBuild" Version="0.17.1" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.VisualStudio.SlnGen" Version="10.0.0">
      <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
      <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers</IncludeAssets>
    </PackageReference>
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Bicep Include="main.bicep" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

[majastrz]

@abatishchev Does that change the behavior that you're seeing?

[abatishchev]

@majastrz it totally does, thanks!! Here's what I've got:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.Build.NoTargets">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net7.0</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Azure.Bicep.CommandLine.win-x64" Version="0.17.1" />
    <PackageReference Include="Azure.Bicep.MSBuild" Version="0.17.1" />
  </ItemGroup>
  
  <ItemGroup>
    <Bicep Include="main.bicep" OutputFile="..\Application\ServiceGroupRoot\Template\ResourceProvider.json" />
  </ItemGroup>
  
</Project>