Serilog.Settings.Configuration is not working when it is referenced as package

I am getting really strange behaviour trying to configure Serilog using appsettings.json.

It only works when I add Serilog.Settings.Configuration to my project using Add Project Reference. When Serilog.Settings.Configuration (3.2.0) is installed as package I am getting Exception:

System.InvalidOperationException: 'Cannot create instance of type 'Serilog.Formatting.ITextFormatter' because it is either abstract or an interface.'

Here is code example that I am using to parse configuration:

    var configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder()
        .SetBasePath(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
        .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json")
        .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT") ?? "Production"}.json", true)
        .Build();

    var logger = new LoggerConfiguration()
        .ReadFrom.Configuration(configuration)
        .CreateLogger();

Here is config that I am using:

  "Serilog": {
    "MinimumLevel": {
      "Override": {
        "Microsoft": "Debug",
        "System": "Debug"
      }
    },
    "Enrich": [ "FromLogContext" ],
    "WriteTo": [
      {
        "Name": "Console",
        "Args": {
          "formatter": {
            "type": "Serilog.Templates.ExpressionTemplate, Serilog.Expressions",
            "template": "[{@t:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} {@l:u3}] {#if CorrelationId is not null}{CorrelationId} | {#end}{@m:lj}\n{@x}"
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }

Here is an example of not working project file (Serilog.Settings.Configuration is PackageReference):

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

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net5.0</TargetFramework>
    <UserSecretsId>0718b2b6-70cb-4a9b-9c43-30625d246f61</UserSecretsId>
    <DockerDefaultTargetOS>Linux</DockerDefaultTargetOS>
    <AssemblyName>SomeName</AssemblyName>
    <RootNamespace>SomeNamespace</RootNamespace>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Azure.Containers.Tools.Targets" Version="1.14.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Serilog.AspNetCore" Version="4.1.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Serilog.Expressions" Version="3.2.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Serilog.Settings.Configuration" Version="3.2.0" />
  </ItemGroup>
    
</Project>

Here is an example of working project file (Serilog.Settings.Configuration is ProjectReference):

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

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net5.0</TargetFramework>
    <UserSecretsId>0718b2b6-70cb-4a9b-9c43-30625d246f61</UserSecretsId>
    <DockerDefaultTargetOS>Linux</DockerDefaultTargetOS>
    <AssemblyName>SomeName</AssemblyName>
    <RootNamespace>SomeNamespace</RootNamespace>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Azure.Containers.Tools.Targets" Version="1.14.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Serilog.AspNetCore" Version="4.1.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Serilog.Expressions" Version="3.2.0" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <ProjectReference Include="..\..\..\serilog-settings-configuration-dev\src\Serilog.Settings.Configuration\Serilog.Settings.Configuration.csproj" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

What am I missing? It looks like Serilog.Settings.Configuration is ignored when it is referenced as package, right? How can I fix that?

[skomis-mm]

Hi @Igor-Zlatomrezhev , please use 3.3.0-dev version (see changes log) of the package until stable release

[nblumhardt]

Thanks @Igor-Zlatomrezhev 👍

@skomis-mm - I’ll hit the button 😎