build-dotnet-agent

name

build-dotnet-agent

description

Build the New Relic .NET agent locally and validate that code changes compile. Use this whenever you are about to build the agent, need to confirm your edits compile, need to refresh the agent home directories (newrelichome_*) before running tests, or find yourself reaching for `dotnet build` / `msbuild` on any project in this repo. Always build the full solution from the CLI in Debug -- never a single project. Covers that command and the traps that waste time (building individual projects, Release config, building the profiler by hand, dragging preview SDKs into build tools).

Building the .NET agent

To validate edits or refresh agent home dirs, build the full solution yourself from the repo root:

dotnet build FullAgent.sln

Debug is default -- never pass -c Release. It's slow; run in background or tee to a file and read the tail. The user builds in VS; that's their path, not yours -- you use the CLI.

Rules

• Never build a single .csproj. Core.csproj and its dependents have a post-build step (ILRepack + AssemblyModifier.exe) whose ordering only the solution provides. Building one project alone yields AssemblyModifier.exe not found, exit code 3, or $(SolutionDir)/*Undefined* errors.
• Debug, never Release (Release is for CI/releases).
• IntegrationTests.sln / UnboundedIntegrationTests.sln build with VS MSBuild, not the dotnet build above; the dotnet SDK cannot build their legacy ASP.NET FW web apps. Invocation and required flags: tests/CLAUDE.md.
• Core.UnitTest from the CLI needs SolutionDir (VS sets it, dotnet doesn't), trailing backslash required. Both forms below pass the same value (<repo-root>\):

  # bash (Git Bash)
  SLN="$(cygpath -w "$PWD")\\"
  dotnet build tests/Agent/UnitTests/Core.UnitTest/Core.UnitTest.csproj -f net10.0 -p:SolutionDir="$SLN"
  

  # PowerShell
  $sln = "$((Resolve-Path .).Path)\"
  dotnet build tests/Agent/UnitTests/Core.UnitTest/Core.UnitTest.csproj -f net10.0 -p:SolutionDir="$sln"
  

• NewRelic.Agent.Extensions.Tests: dotnet test on the csproj silently no-ops via VSTestTask -- test the built DLL instead (path in root CLAUDE.md).
• Profiler (Profiler.sln, src/Agent/NewRelic/Profiler/, only when changing the profiler): build with build.ps1, never raw MSBuild; Debug; Linux build needs Docker Desktop.
• Build tools stay on latest LTS (net10.0): build/* tools (ArtifactBuilder, Dotty, etc.) and AssemblyModifier. When evaluating a preview .NET, retarget agent core + tests, not the build tools.

Agent home directories

FullAgent.sln writes these under src/Agent/; all integration/unbounded/container tests read from them, so a stale home dir = "my change isn't taking effect." Rebuild after changing agent/wrapper code. If new instrumentation isn't applied, confirm files exist under <agent-home>/extensions/ (and extensions/netcore/ for .NET Core wrappers).

Framework	OS	Arch	Directory
.NET FW	Win	x64	newrelichome_x64
.NET FW	Win	x86	newrelichome_x86
.NET Core	Win	x64	newrelichome_x64_coreclr
.NET Core	Win	x86	newrelichome_x86_coreclr
.NET Core	Linux	x64	newrelichome_x64_coreclr_linux
.NET Core	Linux	arm64	newrelichome_arm64_coreclr_linux