PublishRelease=true in project file doesn't actually change the configuration to "Release" when running "dotnet publish"

RE #23551

Trying out <PublishRelease>true</PublishRelease> in a console project and it seems if I also set <PublishAot>true</PublishAot> then a debug build is performed rather than a release build.

HelloWorld.Console.csproj

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net7.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    <PublishRelease>true</PublishRelease>
    <PublishAot>true</PublishAot>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Run dotnet publish HelloWorld.Console -r win-x64 --self-contained -v -o .artifacts\HelloWorld.Console

Output:

Publishing HelloWorld.Console: dotnet publish -r win10-x64 --self-contained
  Determining projects to restore...
  Restored ~\HelloWorld.Console\HelloWorld.Console.csproj (in 72 ms).
C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\7.0.100-rc.1.22368.2\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.NET.RuntimeIdentifierInference.targets(219
,5): message NETSDK1057: You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-support-policy [~\HelloWorld.Console\HelloWorld.Console.csproj]
  HelloWorld.Console -> ~\HelloWorld.Console\bin\Debug\net7.0\win10-x64\HelloWorld.Console
  .dll
  Generating compatible native code. To optimize for size or speed, visit https://aka.ms/OptimizeNativeAOT
     Creating library bin\Debug\net7.0\win10-x64\native\HelloWorld.Console.lib and object bin\Debug\net7.0\win10-x64\native\HelloWorld.Console.exp
  HelloWorld.Console -> ~\.artifacts\HelloWorld.Console\

dotnet --info

.NET SDK:
 Version:   7.0.100-rc.1.22368.2
 Commit:    a9c056cd39

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  10.0.22621
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win10-x64
 Base Path:   C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\7.0.100-rc.1.22368.2\

Host:
  Version:      7.0.0-rc.1.22366.5
  Architecture: x64
  Commit:       072eda8d6b

.NET SDKs installed:
  6.0.302 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  6.0.400-preview.22330.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  7.0.100-rc.1.22368.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.1.27 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 5.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 6.0.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 6.0.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 7.0.0-rc.1.22367.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.27 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 5.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 7.0.0-preview.5.22301.12 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 7.0.0-rc.1.22366.5 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.1.27 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 5.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 7.0.0-preview.5.22302.5 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 7.0.0-rc.1.22366.1 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

Other architectures found:
  x86   [C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet]

Environment variables:
  Not set

Learn more:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/info

Download .NET:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/download

@nagilson @richlander

[DamianEdwards]

Aug 12 is the code-complete date for rc.1 so if we want it in rc.1 then I’d assume that’s the date the change is needed in main by.

[benvillalobos]

Chiming in with a bit of context: We saw that the value of Configuration (very early on) determines the values of Optimize and DebugSymbols. Thankfully, Optimize and DebugSymbols aren’t really used until Csc is called. From there we concluded that we can add a condition in the sdk’s publish targets that set the two properties to what they should be under a Release configuration, and this would happen well before csc would be called.