dotnet publish ignoring build configuration in pubxml

I have a Windows x64.pubxml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=208121. 
-->
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration>Release</Configuration>
    <Platform>x64</Platform>
    <PublishDir>artifact\</PublishDir>
    <PublishProtocol>FileSystem</PublishProtocol>
    <SelfContained>false</SelfContained>
    <PublishReadyToRun>true</PublishReadyToRun>
    <PublishReadyToRunShowWarnings>true</PublishReadyToRunShowWarnings>
    <PublishSingleFile>true</PublishSingleFile>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

When I run dotnet publish -p:PublishProfile="Windows x64", I get:

ProjectA -> C:\ProjectA\bin\Debug\net5.0-windows\win-x64\ProjectA.dll
                             ^^^ !!!

When I publish the project using Visual Studio:

2>------ Build started: Project: ProjectA, Configuration: Release x64 ------
2>ProjectA -> C:\ProjectA\bin\x64\Release\net5.0-windows\win-x64\ProjectA.dll
                                    ^^^ !!!

Is this intended?

[baronfel]

We now know why this is - VS Publish operates in two phases while CLI publish operates in a single pass.

VS Publish first evaluates the project to discover which Publish Profile (if any) to use to apply to the publish. Then it applies specific properties (like Configuration, RuntimeIdentifier, etc) to the subsequent Publish operation as Global Properties. Note that other properties in the selected Publish Profile do apply, they are just imported later in the build.

CLI publish just goes straight through in a single pass, and as a result by the time the Publish Profile is imported, critical properties like Configuration and RuntimeIdentifier have already been ‘fixed’.

We’d need to perform this same two-phase logic in Publish to solve this problem. I’ve got a draft PR that I’ve used as a discussion point with @vijayrkn and @AngelosP, and we’d like to do this and a bit more unification work around Web and non-Web projects’ publish behaviors in the near term, perhaps for the 7.0.3xx cycle. That is still up for a bit of discussion though.

[jeffbromberger]

@sfoslund is there any update on this issue? I am using the syntax described here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/tools/dotnet-publish

But neither the PublishProfile nor PublishProfileFullPath properties do anything at all. In fact, I can supply a non-existent profile name or path and it produces no errors or warnings, just goes about its default build. Clearly these properties are just being ignored. I’m using VS2019 and dotnet SDK 6.0.