How to compile solutions and projects with assemblies (executables and dynamic libraries) ?

dotnet.eclass reference

https://github.com/gentoo/dotnet/blob/master/eclass/dotnet.eclass#L81-L85


# @FUNCTION: exbuild
# @DESCRIPTION: run xbuild with Release configuration and configurated FRAMEWORK
exbuild() {
	xbuild "${1}" /p:Configuration=Release /tv:4.0 /p:TargetFrameworkVersion=v"${FRAMEWORK}" || die
}

About properties

MSBuild Properties, <Property ...> Element, <PropertyGroup ...> Element

Typical error messages

could not import "$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.Targets"

# find /usr/lib/mono -name "Microsoft.CSharp.targets"
/usr/lib/mono/xbuild/12.0/bin/Microsoft.CSharp.targets
/usr/lib/mono/xbuild/14.0/bin/Microsoft.CSharp.targets
/usr/lib/mono/4.5/Microsoft.CSharp.targets

if 4.5 is set the error is
MSBUILD: error MSBUILD0000: Unknown tools version: '4.5' . Known versions: '2.0' '3.0' '3.5' '4.0' '12.0'
if 12.0 is set, then
could not import "$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.Targets"

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb383796.aspx
Toolset properties specify the paths of the tools. MSBuild uses the value of the ToolsVersion attribute in the project file to locate the corresponding registry key, and then uses the information in the registry key to set the Toolset properties.

Framework profiles

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/utopic/man1/xbuild.1.html

XBUILD_FRAMEWORK_FOLDERS_PATH
With ToolsVersion 4.0, projects can target arbitrary frameworks
referenced by TargetFrameworkMoniker, which is of the format:

Identifier,Version=<version>[,Profile=<profile>]

Eg. ".NETFramework,Version=v4.0"

The 3 parts of the moniker are given by the msbuild properties:

$(TargetFrameworkIdentifier), $(TargetFrameworkVersion) and
$(TargetFrameworkProfile)

This moniker maps to a framework description file on disk:

<framework_root>/Identifier/Version/[Profile]/RedistList/FrameworkList.xml

This file is used to determine the path where to find the
framework assemblies for this particular framework.

Framework root here is configurable and is resolved in the
following order:

1. Paths specified in the environment variable $XBUILD_FRAMEWORK_FOLDERS_PATH
2. /Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/External/xbuild-frameworks on Mac OSX.
3. MSBuild property $(TargetFrameworkRoot)
4. $prefix/lib/mono/xbuild-frameworks (default location)

XBuild tries the paths given above, in order, till it finds a
FrameworkList.xml for the moniker. Running with /v:detailed or
higher verbosity will show the various paths that it tries.

The FrameworkList.xml itself just has a root element like:

Here the TargetFrameworkDirectory attribute specifies the
directory where the assemblies for this particular framework can
be found. If this is not set, then the parent of the folder
containing the xml file is taken as the framework directory.

IncludeFramework attribute specifies the version of a framework
(under the *same* $(TargetFrameworkIdentifier)) which should be
included in the final list of Target framework directories.

Variables of .csproj files

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms164309.aspx
MSBuildBinPath

The absolute path of the folder where the MSBuild binaries that are currently being used are located (for example, C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\versionNumber). This property is useful if you have to refer to files in the MSBuild directory.
Do not include the final backslash on this property.

MSBuildProjectDirectory
MSBuildProjectFile
MSBuildProjectFullPath
MSBuildProjectName
MSBuildToolsVersion