XamariniOS fails to build on my mac as private agent while building from VS directly is fine

[FrancoisM]

On VSTS, after I added the aspnet core Signalr preview nuget package, I got an error about not being able to AOT an assembly.

My build definition runs on my mac which I've setup as a private agent. I use the XamariniOS vsts task.
What I don't understand is that when I build (in Release | iPhone) on my pc connected to my mac it builds fine without the error.

How come?

[yacaovsnc]

Could you please share your build log with system.debug set to true? What is the error you are getting?

[FrancoisM]

Here is the error

MTOUCH : error MT3001: Could not AOT the assembly '/Users/francois/myagent/_work/2/s/Platforms/MyApp.iOS/obj/iPhone/Release/mtouch-cache/Build/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Sockets.Abstractions.dll'

I'm already on system.debug true.

[FrancoisM]

The build log is huge and show confidential data (secret keys, certificate passwords etc) so I can't share it fully here.
Are you looking for something in particular?

[bryanmacfarlane]

The build log should never have secrets and passwords in it. If it does, it indicates a much more serious problem. The definition should use variables marked as secret on the definition, service endpoints and/or secured files. If those are used properly, the get registered as secrets and the agent masks them from the logs.

[FrancoisM]

I totally agree with you. My secrets comes from Azure Keyvault and are displayed plain in the log! I had not paid attention before as I didn't have to go through the logs.
Take that task for example:

- task: AzureKeyVault@1
    displayName: Getting secrets from Key Vault
    inputs:
        azureSubscription: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
        KeyVaultName: mykeyvault
        SecretsFilter: adminLoginPassword,tokenSecret

then later I use the variable "call az group deployment create.... tokenSecret="$(tokenSecret)" and I'm surprised to see my token in plain the log!

However, that's another topic. Surely I do something wrong.

Moreover, the log display my client app name all over the place (surprisingly I gave my solution the name of the app lol) and I dont think I have the right to disclose it.

[madhurig]

Look for [command] in your log to find the exact command being run during your build. Please try that on your local dev machine (with paths adjusted) and see if that works or not. If you could share the command as well, it will help.

Thanks,
Madhuri

[FrancoisM]

Here is the command.

2018-03-30T09:12:51.1346550Z [command]/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/Commands/msbuild /Users/vsts/agent/2.131.0/work/1/s/MyApp.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=iPhone /p:BuildIpa=true /p:CodesignKeychain=/Users/vsts/agent/2.131.0/work/1/s/_xamariniostasktmp.keychain /p:Codesignkey=iPhone Distribution: MyApp Inc (xxxxxxxxxxx) signProvision=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There are 4 scenarios:
1°) Building from VS on my pc connected to my mac. This build ok on Release | iPhone
2°) Building in VSTS using hosted mac os agent: it doesn't aot
3°) Building in VSTS using my mac as a private agent: it doesn't aot.
4°) Building in VS4mac directly on my mac: haven't tried yet: it doesn't aot.

[FrancoisM]

I've put together a simple repro on github and explained the issue on stackoverflow.

[madhurig]

Thanks for the details, it seems like an issue with VS for Mac and the corresponding toolset (which is what VSTS uses). I will try to find a VS for Mac support team and loop them in.

[yacaovsnc]

Looks like this is also tracked in aspnet/SignalR#1518

[FrancoisM]

Indeed but I think it's more an issue with vs for mac.
Trying to use Signalr is how I found out.

[madhurig]

Closing since the VS for Mac issue has been resolved and this is external to the VSTS task.