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[msbuild] Copy the .dSYM to the publish directory when publishing#26041

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[msbuild] Copy the .dSYM to the publish directory when publishing#26041
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@rolfbjarne

@rolfbjarne rolfbjarne commented Jul 10, 2026

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Developers frequently can't find the .dSYM debug symbols after dotnet publish, because they're left in the build output directory (next to the .app) while the published .ipa/.pkg lands in the publish directory. This trips people up when they need to symbolicate crashes or upload symbols to a crash reporting service, and it's a recurring source of confusion in issue #15384.

This change copies any generated *.dSYM directories into the publish directory during dotnet publish, so the debug symbols end up right alongside the published package.

Approach

  • Added a new _CopyDSymToPublishDirectory target in dotnet/targets/Xamarin.Shared.Sdk.Publish.targets, wired into the Publish target via DependsOnTargets (so it runs after the app bundle and its dSYMs already exist).
  • It uses the existing GetDirectories task to find *.dSYM directories next to the app bundle ($(_AppContainerDir)), then copies each one recursively into $(PublishDir), preserving the dSYM folder name and internal structure. SkipUnchangedFiles avoids redundant copies on repeated publishes.
  • A new CopyDSYMToPublishDirectory property controls the behavior. It defaults to true; set it to false to opt out.
  • The target is guarded to macOS host builds (IsOSPlatform('osx')) and to projects that actually produce an app bundle. The Windows remote-build path already retrieves dSYMs separately via CopyDSYMFromMac, so that flow is intentionally untouched.

Notes for reviewers

  • The copy uses item batching on the dSYM directory plus %(RecursiveDir) to reproduce the tree. I could not run the full test suite locally (the environment is missing the required Xcode), so I validated the batching/RecursiveDir destination mapping with a standalone dotnet msbuild repro, and added a PublishDSymToPublishDirectory test (copy on/off) to tests/dotnet/UnitTests/PostBuildTest.cs.
  • Documented the new property in docs/building-apps/build-properties.md.

Fixes: #15384

Fixes #15384

🤖 Pull request created by Copilot

rolfbjarne and others added 2 commits July 10, 2026 14:58
@rolfbjarne
[msbuild] Copy the .dSYM to the publish directory when publishing
823dcc1 
When running `dotnet publish`, the generated `*.dSYM` directories (which are
created next to the app bundle in the output directory) are now copied into the
publish directory, so the debug symbols end up alongside the published
`.ipa`/`.pkg`. This makes it much easier to locate the dSYMs for symbolication
without knowing the exact build output layout.

This can be disabled by setting `CopyDSYMToPublishDirectory=false`.

Fixes #15384

Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@rolfbjarne
[msbuild] Use ->Count() for the dSYM copy empty check
7fc8531 
Avoid a potentially huge string-join in the log message when there are many
files inside the .dSYM directories.

Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2

vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 commented Jul 10, 2026

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✅ API diff for current PR / commit

NET (empty diffs)

✅ API diff vs stable

NET (empty diffs)

ℹ️ Generator diff

Generator Diff: vsdrops (html) vsdrops (raw diff) gist (raw diff) - Please review changes)

Pipeline on Agent
Hash: 7fc8531578e4e3d29bdc11ac616fc9e498af1638 [PR build]

@vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2

vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 commented Jul 10, 2026

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🔥 [CI Build #7fc8531] Test results 🔥

Test results

❌ Tests failed on VSTS: test results

1 tests crashed, 2 tests failed, 196 tests passed.

Failures

❌ dotnettests tests (iOS)

🔥 Failed catastrophically on VSTS: test results - dotnettests_ios (no summary found).

Html Report (VSDrops) Download

❌ dotnettests tests (MacCatalyst)

1 tests failed, 0 tests passed.

Failed tests

  • DotNet tests: Failed (Execution failed with exit code 1)
    • Xamarin.Tests.PostBuildTest.PublishApplicationArtifactsDependsOn...: '/Users/cloudtest/vss/_work/1/s/macios/builds/downloads/dotnet-sdk-10.0.400-preview.0.26359.109/dotnet' failed with exit code 1
      ...
    • Xamarin.Tests.PostBuildTest.PublishTest(MacCatalyst,"maccatalyst...: 'dotnet publish' failed with exit code 1
      Full command: /Users/cloudtest/vss/_work/1/s/macios/builds/downloads/dotnet-sdk-10.0.40...
    • Xamarin.Tests.PostBuildTest.PublishTest(MacCatalyst,"maccatalyst...: 'dotnet publish' failed with exit code 1
      Full command: /Users/cloudtest/vss/_work/1/s/macios/builds/downloads/dotnet-sdk-10.0.40...

Html Report (VSDrops) Download

❌ dotnettests tests (macOS)

1 tests failed, 0 tests passed.

Failed tests

  • DotNet tests: Failed (Execution failed with exit code 1)
    • Xamarin.Tests.PostBuildTest.PublishTest(MacOSX,"osx-arm64;osx-x6...: 'dotnet publish' failed with exit code 1
      Full command: /Users/cloudtest/vss/_work/1/s/macios/builds/downloads/dotnet-sdk-10.0.40...
    • Xamarin.Tests.PostBuildTest.PublishTest(MacOSX,"osx-x64"): 'dotnet publish' failed with exit code 1
      Full command: /Users/cloudtest/vss/_work/1/s/macios/builds/downloads/dotnet-sdk-10.0.40...

Html Report (VSDrops) Download

Successes

✅ assembly-processing: All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ cecil: All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ dotnettests (Multiple platforms): All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ dotnettests (tvOS): All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ framework: All 2 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ fsharp: All 4 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ generator: All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ interdependent-binding-projects: All 4 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ introspection: All 4 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ linker (iOS): All 15 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ linker (MacCatalyst): All 15 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ linker (macOS): All 21 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ linker (tvOS): All 15 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ monotouch (iOS): All 18 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ monotouch (MacCatalyst): All 17 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ monotouch (macOS): All 18 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ monotouch (tvOS): All 18 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ msbuild: All 2 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ sharpie: All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ windows: All 3 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ xcframework: All 4 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ xtro: All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download

macOS tests

✅ Tests on macOS Monterey (12): All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ Tests on macOS Ventura (13): All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ Tests on macOS Sonoma (14): All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ Tests on macOS Sequoia (15): All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ Tests on macOS Tahoe (26): All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download

Linux Build Verification

✅ Linux build succeeded

Pipeline on Agent
Hash: 7fc8531578e4e3d29bdc11ac616fc9e498af1638 [PR build]

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Copy the .dSYM to the publish directory

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@rolfbjarne @vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2