dotnet publish does not copy refs folder

[guylando]

I run dotnet publish -f net461 -c Release -r win7-x64 -o bin\Release\PublishOutput
I have .NET Command Line Tools (2.1.300-rc1-008673)
The Release build has refs folder.
The PublishOutput doesnt get the refs folder copied in it.
Publishing without refs folder to the server resulting in runtime error of missing assemblies such as:
System.InvalidOperationException: Cannot find reference assembly 'Microsoft.Win32.Primitives.dll' file for package Microsoft.Win32.Primitives.Reference

Other projects in same solution publish with refs folder using same command.
Few days ago doing last publish DID publish with refs folder.

Any idea what is prevents refs folder from being copied to PublishOutput during publish?

Copying previously generated refs folder manually makes things work.
Whats going on?

[eerhardt]

@pranavkm - did we disable the refs folder on publish by default in ASP.NET for 2.1?

[pranavkm]

did we disable the refs folder on publish by default in ASP.NET for 2.1?

Yup. See the description for CopyRefAssembliesToPublishDirectory here - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/mvc/razor-pages/sdk?view=aspnetcore-2.1#properties. In the most common case, Razor compilation is the only thing that performs runtime compilation and we enable build and publish-time compilation of Razor views by default as of 2.1.