Best .NET build tool [duplicate]

Answer 1

I'd just like to throw FinalBuilder in to the mix. It's not free, but if you're fed up with editing XML files and want a somewhat nicer (IMO) environment to work in I would give it a go.

I've worked with all of them and have always went back to FinalBuilder.

Answer 2

I have used both MSBuild and NAnt, and I much prefer MSBuild, mainly because it requires a lot less configuration by default. Although you can over-complicate things and load MSBuild down with a lot of configuration junk too, at its simplest, you can just point it at a solution/project file and have it go which, most of the time, for most cases, is enough.

Answer 3

I use MSBuild completely for building. Here's my generic MSBuild script that searches the tree for .csproj files and builds them:

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="Build">
  <UsingTask AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\bin\xUnit\xunitext.runner.msbuild.dll" TaskName="XunitExt.Runner.MSBuild.xunit"/>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition="'$(Configuration)'==''">Debug</Configuration>
    <DeployDir>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\Build\$(Configuration)</DeployDir>
    <ProjectMask>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\**\*.csproj</ProjectMask>
    <ProjectExcludeMask></ProjectExcludeMask>
    <TestAssembliesIncludeMask>$(DeployDir)\*.Test.dll</TestAssembliesIncludeMask>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <ProjectFiles Include="$(ProjectMask)" Exclude="$(ProjectExcludeMask)"/>
  </ItemGroup>

  <Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="__Compile;__Deploy;__Test"/>

  <Target Name="Clean">
    <MSBuild Projects="@(ProjectFiles)" Targets="Clean"/>
    <RemoveDir Directories="$(DeployDir)"/>
  </Target>

  <Target Name="Rebuild" DependsOnTargets="Clean;Build"/>

  <!--
  ===== Targets that are meant for use only by MSBuild =====
  -->
  <Target Name="__Compile">
    <MSBuild Projects="@(ProjectFiles)" Targets="Build">
      <Output TaskParameter="TargetOutputs" ItemName="AssembliesBuilt"/>
    </MSBuild>
    <CreateItem Include="@(AssembliesBuilt -> '%(RootDir)%(Directory)*')">
      <Output TaskParameter="Include" ItemName="DeployFiles"/>
    </CreateItem>
  </Target>

  <Target Name="__Deploy">
    <MakeDir Directories="$(DeployDir)"/>
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(DeployFiles)" DestinationFolder="$(DeployDir)"/>
    <CreateItem Include="$(TestAssembliesIncludeMask)">
      <Output TaskParameter="Include" ItemName="TestAssemblies"/>
    </CreateItem>
  </Target>

  <Target Name="__Test">
    <xunit Assembly="@(TestAssemblies)"/>
  </Target>
</Project>

(Sorry if it's a little dense. Markdown seems to be stripping out the blank lines.)

It's pretty simple though once you understand the concepts and all the dependencies are handled automatically. I should note that we use Visual Studio project files, which have a lot of logic built into them, but this system allows people to build almost identically both within the Visual Studio IDE or at the command line and still gives you the flexibility of adding things to the canonical build like the xUnit testing you see in the script above.

The one PropertyGroup is where all the configuration happens and things can be customized, like excluding certain projects from the build or adding new test assembly masks.

The ItemGroup is where the logic happens that finds all the .csproj files in the tree.

Then there are the targets, which most people familiar with make, nAnt or MSBuild should be able to follow. If you call the Build target, it calls __Compile, __Deploy and __Test. The Clean target calls MSBuild on all the project files for them to clean up their directories and then the global deployment directory is deleted. Rebuild calls Clean and then Build.

Answer 4

Generally speaking, I get the impression that NAnt offers more flexibility compared to MSBuild, whereas (with my relatively simple needs) I've been fine with the latter so far.

Answer 5

We're using Bounce, a framework for cleaner build scripts in C#.

Answer 6

It also depends on what you're building. The MSBuild SDC Task library has a couple of special tasks. For example, for AD, BizTalk, etc.

There are over 300 tasks included in this library including tasks for: creating websites, creating application pools, creating ActiveDirectory users, running FxCop, configuring virtual servers, creating zip files, configuring COM+, creating folder shares, installing into the GAC, configuring SQL Server, configuring BizTalk 2004 and BizTalk 2006, etc.