Why doesn't Nuget package contain only referenced projects?

Question

I am able to replicate this scenario:

This is the structure of my . Net solution:

LibC - project --references external Nuget package

LibB - project ---references LibC

LibA - project --references LibB

When I pack LibA with includeReferenedProjects option, I can see LibB. How do I prevent nuget package/lib folder from containing LibC dll and external Nuget package? Those are internal to the solution.

Shouldn't LibA package only contain LibB dll?

Answer 1

Why doesn't Nuget package contain only referenced projects?

This is a known issue on Github Issue 2897 . But NuGet team are not planning to implement this feature at the current time.

As workaround for this issue, you can create a .nupsec only include the referenced project LinB dll:

Check: Create nuget package from dlls

If you do not want to create the .nupsec file, you can download NuGet Package Explorer from Microsoft store, then edit the package info, delete the LibC dll and remove the nuget dependency(Edit->Edit Metadata->Edit dependebcies)

Hope this helps.