`dotnet publish --no-build` over-publishes from referenced projects

[dougbu]

Describe the bug

The Web SDK does not normally publish *.cshtml files when using dotnet publish (because they're precompiled into the web site assembly and aren't needed). These files are published from referenced projects if $(NoBuild) is true e.g. using dotnet publish --no-build. These files increase deployment payloads and can confuse tests.

To Reproduce

1. In a clone of the dotnet/aspnetcore repo, run eng\build.cmd -noBuildManaged -noBuildNative
2. dotnet build src\Mvc\test\WebSites\RazorPagesWebSite\
3. dotnet publish --no-build src\Mvc\test\WebSites\RazorPagesWebSite\
4. Observe the artifacts\bin\RazorPagesWebSite\Debug\net7.0\publish\Pages\ClassLibraryPages folder as well as the *.cshtml files within it
5. Reset using rm -Recurse artifacts\bin\RazorPagesWebSite\ and rm -Recurse artifacts\obj\RazorPagesWebSite\
6. dotnet build src\Mvc\test\WebSites\RazorPagesWebSite\
7. dotnet publish src\Mvc\test\WebSites\RazorPagesWebSite\
8. Observe the lack of an artifacts\bin\RazorPagesWebSite\Debug\net7.0\publish\Pages folder

More detail

Using /p:BuildProjectReferences=false instead of --no-build in step 3 results in the same over-publication.

The ClassLibraryPages folder comes from the referenced src\Mvc\test\WebSites\RazorPagesClassLibrary\ project. Note the many *.cshtml files from the RazorPagesWebSite project are not published in either (3) or (7).

Moving up a project dependency level and doing the same with the src\Mvc\test\Mvc.FunctionalTests\ project is worse because src\Mvc\test\WebSites\RazorPagesWebSite\ contains a lot of *.cshtml files and other referenced projects add to that; all are copied into artifacts\bin\Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.FunctionalTests\Debug\net7.0\publish\Pages and …\Views. This breaks the functional tests because a few test sites use <RazorCompileOnPublish>false</RazorCompileOnPublish> and pick up incorrect / unexpected files.

Binary logging

The AssignTargetPaths target in the RazorPagesClassLibrary project adds@(ContentWithTargetPath) for Pages\ClassLibraryPages\*.cshtml in all cases. The items are removed before the GetCopyToPublishDirectoryItems target is reached but not when using --no-build or /p:BuildProjectReferences=false. It's not clear where the removals happen because item removals are not consistently logged.

Versions

I've only tested with the 7.0.100-preview.2.22102.6 SDK but this is likely a long-standing issue.

dotnet details

> dotnet --info
.NET SDK (reflecting any global.json):
 Version:   7.0.100-preview.2.22102.6
 Commit:    6b77f292d5

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  10.0.22000
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win10-x64
 Base Path:   C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\sdk\7.0.100-preview.2.22102.6\

Host (useful for support):
  Version: 7.0.0-preview.2.22103.2
  Commit:  0ae04e5b33

.NET SDKs installed:
  7.0.100-preview.2.22102.6 [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\sdk]

.NET runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.1.21 [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 7.0.0-dev [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 7.0.0-preview.2.22080.2 [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.30 [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.21 [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 7.0.0-preview.2.22102.1 [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 7.0.0-preview.2.22102.17 [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 7.0.0-preview.2.22103.2 [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 7.0.0-preview.2.22101.13 [C:\dd\dnx\aspnetcore\.dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

To install additional .NET runtimes or SDKs:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet-download

[dsplaisted]

Here's a standalone repro projects (and binlogs in the RazorPages project directory): RazorOverPublish23777.zip

During a normal build, CopyToPublishDirectory metadata on .cshtml Content items is set to Never in the ResolveRazorGenerateInputs Target.

However, when using --no-build, most targets in the referenced project aren't run. The primary one that is run is GetCopyToPublishDirectoryItems.

To fix this, probably the ResolveRazorGenerateInputs target or something like it needs to be set to run before GetCopyToPublishDirectoryItems.

/cc @captainsafia, @pranavkm, @mkArtakMSFT as Razor SDK area owners.

Thanks for contacting us.

We're moving this issue to the .NET 8 Planning milestone for future evaluation / consideration. We would like to keep this around to collect more feedback, which can help us with prioritizing this work. We will re-evaluate this issue, during our next planning meeting(s).
If we later determine, that the issue has no community involvement, or it's very rare and low-impact issue, we will close it - so that the team can focus on more important and high impact issues.
To learn more about what to expect next and how this issue will be handled you can read more about our triage process here.

[mkArtakMSFT]

@dougbu why is this important? Can we just not do this work or is there a push to get this resolved? so far we've seen no customer impact from this.