dotnet run app.dll throws null reference exception

Steps to reproduce

1. build a console app.
2. run dotnet publish
3. navigate to the publish folder
4. run dotnet run app.dll

Expected behavior

An error indicating that to use dotnet on a dll you shoud do dotne app.dll

Actual behavior

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Environment data

dotnet --info output: .NET Command Line Tools (1.0.0-rc2-002611)

Product Information: Version: 1.0.0-rc2-002611 Commit Sha: bf8f0edd89

Runtime Environment: OS Name: ubuntu OS Version: 14.04 OS Platform: Linux RID: ubuntu.14.04-x64

Other info “dependencies”: { “Microsoft.NETCore.App”: { “version”: “1.0.0-rc2-24008”, “type”: “platform” }, “Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.IISIntegration”: “1.0.0-rc2-20581”, “Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel”: “1.0.0-rc2-20581” },

“frameworks”: { “netcoreapp1.0”: { “imports”: [ “dotnet5.6”, “dnxcore50”, “portable-net45+win8” ] } }

[Sebazzz]

Perhaps this can be clarified in documentation. I was trying to run my published app using dotnet run, only to find out now it should be run using dotnet filename.dll. Never mind, it shouldn’t crash with such a vague error message. I haven’t tried the preview2 bits yet though.

[blackdwarf]

This has been added to the documentation now (e.g. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/articles/core/tools/dotnet-run). Closing. Since the issue is by design, if the docs need more clarification, feel free to open the issue on dotnet/docs repo.