Nant msbuild task with .net 4.0 rc

Question

How do I need to indicate to the msbuild task in my nant script that it should use .net 4.0 rc?

Answer 1

I think the latest NAnt/NAntContrib defaults to .NET 3.5, so you'll have to change that to 4.0. There is a NAnt property to handle that (<property name="nant.settings.currentframework" value="net-4.0" />), which should go near the top of your NAnt build file.

Next, you'll need to go into your NAnt's configuration file and add the 4.0 node, so that NAnt (and by extension NantContrib) are aware of the new CLR version.

Answer 2

The first option is to change the executable that MSBuild task uses. According to the doco this is a framework property so you would need to change it in the main nant config file rather than in you're individual script, and you would have to do it on every machine you plan on building the script on.

The other option is to use the exec task instead. This question and answer should help with that.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the directories MSBuild is in. To change versions just use a different MSBuild.

2.0: %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\MSBuild.exe
3.5: %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\MSBuild.exe
4.0b2: %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.21006\MSBuild.exe