dotnet publish does not respect target framework from publish profile

Description

Running dotnet publish -p:PublishProfile=Anything.pubxml ignores the fact that the TargetFramework is specified within given .pubxml file and informs you (displays error) that you must specify the framework manually.

Current behavior

Error is displayed and publish process is stopped

The ‘Publish’ target is not supported without specifying a target framework. The current project targets multiple frameworks, please specify the framework for the published application.

Expected behavior

TargetFramework should be retrieved from the .pubxml file.

Steps to reproduce

1. dotnet new console.
2. In .csproj set TargetFrameworks to netcoreapp2.1;netcoreapp3.1.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFrameworks>netcoreapp2.1;netcoreapp3.1</TargetFrameworks>
    <RootNamespace>dotnet_publish_issue</RootNamespace>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

1. Open up with VS, create any folder publish profile for netcoreapp2.1. Created profile should look like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <PublishProtocol>FileSystem</PublishProtocol>
    <Configuration>Release</Configuration>
    <Platform>Any CPU</Platform>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp2.1</TargetFramework>
    <PublishDir>bin\Release\netcoreapp2.1\publish\</PublishDir>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

1. Executing dotnet publish -p:PublishProfile=Properties\PublishProfiles\FolderProfile.pubxml results in error:

C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\3.1.100\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.NET.Sdk.CrossTargeting.targets(27,5): error : The 'Publish' target is not supported without specifying a target framework. The current project targets multiple frameworks, please specify the framework for the published application. [C:\dotnet publish issue\dotnet publish issue.csproj]

Executing dotnet publish -p:PublishProfile=Properties\PublishProfiles\FolderProfile.pubxml -f:netcoreapp2.1 works fine, but why does .pubxml’s <TargetFramework> node is ignored?

[dekenless]

I’m still seeing this in .NET 6

[baronfel]

Yep, we need to do an evaluation and then trigger the Publish with the properties from the selected PublishProfile, which is exactly what VS does. I call this a ‘two-phase’ publish, and I have a draft PR for this here. I need to get feedback from the VS Publish folks on the exact set of properties that are lifted from the PublishProfile, and write tests, but I am halfway working on proposing this for 7.0.300.

The reason this two-phase approach is needed is because of MSBuild props/targets ordering - the PublishProfile evaluation is done long after certain ‘core’ properties like the RID, TFM, etc are set - and in fact many of these properties can be set by the CLI itself. When this occurs they are ‘global properties’ for the build, and as such can’t be overwritten (which is what a naieve Import of the Publish Profile would do).