Well-Known MSBuild Properties

Note

The integration of PostSharp with MSBuild is implemented in files PostSharp.tasks and PostSharp.targets. These files define some properties and items that are not documented here. They are considered implementation details and may change without notice.

General Properties

The following properties are most commonly overwritten. They can also be edited in Visual Studio using the PostSharp project property page.

Property name	Description
`PostSharpSearchPath`	A semicolon-separated list of directories added to the PostSharp search path. PostSharp will probe these directories when looking for an assembly or an add-in. Note that several directories are automatically added to the search path: the .NET Framework reference directory, the directories containing the dependencies of your project and the directories added to the reference path of your project (tab Reference Path in the Visual Studio project properties dialog box).
`SkipPostSharp`	`True` if PostSharp should not be executed.
`PostSharpDisabledMessages`	Comma-separated list of warnings and messages that should be ignored.
`PostSharpEscalatedMessages`	Comma-separated list of warnings that should be escalated to errors. Use `*` to escalate all warnings.
`PostSharpTreatWarningsAsErrors`	When set to `True`, PostSharp escalates all its warnings to errors, except `PS0131` and the codes listed in `WarningsNotAsErrors`. The default value is the value of `TreatWarningsAsErrors`. PostSharp always escalates the PostSharp codes listed in `WarningsAsErrors`. See Ignoring and Escalating Warnings.
`PostSharpLicense`	License key or URL of the license server.
`PostSharpProperties`	Additional properties passed to the PostSharp project, in format `Name1=Value1;Name2=Value2`. See Well-Known PostSharp Properties.
`PostSharpConstraintVerificationEnabled`	Determines whether verification of architecture constraints is enabled. The default value is `True`.

Hosting Properties

PostSharp both reads and executes assemblies that it transforms. It needs to run under a runtime that allows execution of the input assembly and of its dependencies. This is done automatically based on the target framework of the project being built. The following properties allow you to influence the default behavior.

Property name	Description
`PostSharpUsePipeServer`	Specifies whether PostSharp should use a background process invoked synchronously from MSBuild. Valid values are `True` and `False`. The default value is `True` when the PostSharp process runs on x64 or ARM64, and `False` when it runs on x86. Using the pipe server results in lower build time, since PostSharp would otherwise have to be started every time a project is built. The pipe server uses native code and the CLR Hosting API to control the way assemblies are loaded in application domains; the assembly loading algorithm is generally more accurate and predictable than with the managed host. This property is valid only when targeting .NET Framework, otherwise it is ignored.
`PostSharpTargetProcessor`	Processor architecture of the PostSharp hosting process. Valid values are `x86`, `x64` and `arm64`. Since PostSharp needs to execute the current project during the build, the processor architecture of the PostSharp process must be compatible with the target platform of the current project. By default, PostSharp uses the target platform of the current project. If the project targets `AnyCPU`, PostSharp uses the architecture of the operating system. This property is valid only when targeting .NET Framework, otherwise it is ignored.
`PostSharpBuild`	Build configuration of PostSharp. Valid values are `Release` and `Debug`. Only the `Release` build is distributed in the normal PostSharp packages.
`PostSharpHostConfigurationFile`	Item group of configuration files containing assembly binding redirections that should be taken into account by the PostSharp hosting process. When targeting .NET Framework, it includes by default a file that PostSharp generates from the `app.config` file of the project and from the binding redirects suggested by MSBuild.
`PostSharpDependencyRestoreDisabled`	Specifies whether PostSharp should disable restore of its build-time dependencies. Valid values are `True` and `False`. PostSharp's .NET Core process requires its build-time dependency NuGet packages to be present on the machine. By default it uses NuGet restore to download all packages into a fallback directory. You can use this property to disable this process, at which point PostSharp will expect all dependencies to be present in the NuGet package cache directory used to restore the project being built. You can find the list of dependencies in the verbose build log. This property is valid only when targeting .NET Standard and .NET Core, otherwise it is ignored.
`PostSharpReadyToRunDisabled`	Specifies whether PostSharp should try to generate and use ReadyToRun images of itself. Valid values are `True` and `False`, the default value is `False`. When the build runs under .NET Core SDK 3.1 and later, the PostSharp .NET Core process attempts to generate and use ReadyToRun images to improve build-time performance. If generating these images fails, multiple build warnings may appear in the build log. This property is valid only when targeting .NET Standard and .NET Core, otherwise it is ignored.

Diagnostic Properties

Property name	Description
`PostSharpAttachDebugger`	If this property is set to `True`, PostSharp will break before starting execution, allowing you to attach a debugger to the PostSharp process. The default value is `False`. For details, see Debugging Build-Time Logic. When targeting .NET Framework, PostSharp will invoke `System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch()`. When targeting .NET Core or .NET Standard, PostSharp will print its current process ID into the build log and wait for the debugger to be attached.
`PostSharpTrace`	A semicolon-separated list of trace categories to be enabled. Most commonly used categories are `AssemblyBinder`, `PlatformContext`, `Domain`, `ReflectionBinding` and `ProjectLoader`. To see the trace output in the build log, set the verbosity to at least `normal`.
`PostSharpBenchmark`	A semicolon-separated list of benchmark categories to be enabled or `all` for all benchmarks to be enabled.
`PostSharpBenchmarkOutputFile`	An absolute path to a CSV file where benchmark data should be appended. If the file does not exist, it is created with a header line. This is useful when benchmarking multiple projects at once or in automated builds.
`PostSharpExpectedMessages`	A semicolon-separated list of codes of expected messages. PostSharp will return a failure code if any expected message was not emitted. This property is used in unit tests of aspects, to ensure that the application of an aspect results in the expected error message.
`PostSharpIgnoreError`	If this property is set to `True`, the `PostSharp` MSBuild task will succeed even if PostSharp returns an error code, allowing the build process to continue. The project or targets file can check the value of the `ExitCode` output property of the `PostSharp` MSBuild task to take action.
`PostSharpFailOnUnexpectedMessage`	This property should be used jointly with `PostSharpExpectedMessages`. If it is set to `True`, PostSharp will fail if any unexpected message was emitted, even if this message was not an error. This property is used in unit tests of aspects, to ensure that the application of an aspect did not result in other messages than expected.

Directory Properties

PostSharp uses multiple directories at build time. You can use the following properties to override default locations.

Property name	Description
`PostSharpBinaryDirectory`	Location of the PostSharp binaries. PostSharp extracts its binaries into one subdirectory of this directory per PostSharp version. Default on Windows is `%LOCALAPPDATA%\PostSharp`. Default on UNIX systems is `$XDG_DATA_HOME/postsharp`, or `~/.local/share/postsharp` if `XDG_DATA_HOME` is not set.
`PostSharpCacheDirectory`	Location of the PostSharp caches. PostSharp uses multiple build-time caches shared between PostSharp versions to improve its performance. Default on Windows is `%LOCALAPPDATA%\PostSharp`. Default on UNIX systems is the `cache` subdirectory of the default binary directory.
`PostSharpDependencyDirectory`	Location of the PostSharp dependency directory. PostSharp uses this directory to store its build-time dependencies, usually shared between versions. Default on Windows is `%LOCALAPPDATA%\PostSharp\NuGetFallback`. Default on UNIX systems is the `NuGetFallback` subdirectory of the default binary directory.
`PostSharpTempDirectory`	Location of the PostSharp temp directory. PostSharp uses this directory to store files that are temporary and do not have to be persisted. Default on Windows is `%TEMP%\PostSharp`. Default on UNIX systems is the `temp` subdirectory of the default binary directory.

Other Properties

Property name	Description
`PostSharpProject`	Location of the PostSharp project (`*.psproj`) to be executed by PostSharp. By default, PostSharp uses the file `<MyProject>.psproj` of the project directory, if it exists. To disable PostSharp, use the `SkipPostSharp` property instead.
`PostSharpRedistVersionCheckDisabled`	When set to `True`, the build does not check that the PostSharp.Redist package has the same version as the PostSharp package. By default, the build fails with an error when PostSharp.Redist has a higher version, and emits a warning when it has a lower version. See PostSharp Components.
`PostSharpUseHardLink`	Use hard links instead of file copies when creating the snapshot for Visual Studio Code Analysis (FxCop). This property is `True` by default.
`ExecuteCodeAnalysisOnPostSharpOutput`	When set to `True`, executes Microsoft Code Analysis on the output of PostSharp. By default, the analysis is done on the input of PostSharp, that is, on the output of the compiler. This property has no effect when Microsoft Code Analysis is disabled for the current build.
`PostSharpCopyCodeAnalysisDependenciesDisabled`	When set to `True`, PostSharp will not copy all dependencies of the current project output into the obj\Debug\Before-PostSharp directory, which contains the copy of the assembly on which Microsoft Code Analysis is executed by default. This property has no effect when Microsoft Code Analysis is disabled for the current build or when the `ExecuteCodeAnalysisOnPostSharpOutput` property has been set to `True`.