Roslyn - CodeAnalysis.MsBuild - How to open project?

Question

I'm trying to generate a file containing metadata about the analyzed code, given a csproj. I'm failing at step #1, opening the project.

public static async Task Main(string[] args)
{
    MSBuildLocator.RegisterDefaults();
    using (var workspace = MSBuildWorkspace.Create())
    {
        workspace.WorkspaceFailed += (_, failure) => Console.WriteLine(failure.Diagnostic);

        var project = await workspace.OpenProjectAsync(args[0]);
    }
}

Analyzer project file:

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

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp2.1</TargetFramework>
    <ApplicationIcon />
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <StartupObject />
    <LangVersion>latest</LangVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Markdig" Version="0.20.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Build.Locator" Version="1.2.6" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis" Version="3.4.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Workspaces.MSBuild" Version="3.4.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager" Version="4.7.0" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

This outputs

[Failure] Msbuild failed when processing the file 'C:\projects\NoComment\NoComment.SimplestAssembly\NoComment.SimplestAssembly.csproj' with message: C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\3.1.301\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.PackageDependencyResolution.targets: (234, 5): The "ResolvePackageAssets" task failed unexpectedly.
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'NuGet.ProjectModel, Version=5.6.0.5, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35'. The system cannot find the file specified.
File name: 'NuGet.ProjectModel, Version=5.6.0.5, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load the specified file.
File name: 'NuGet.ProjectModel'
   at System.Runtime.Loader.AssemblyLoadContext.ResolveUsingEvent(AssemblyName assemblyName)
   at System.Runtime.Loader.AssemblyLoadContext.ResolveUsingResolvingEvent(IntPtr gchManagedAssemblyLoadContext, AssemblyName assemblyName)
   at Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks.ResolvePackageAssets.CacheReader.CreateReaderFromMemory(ResolvePackageAssets task, Byte[] settingsHash)
   at Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks.ResolvePackageAssets.CacheReader..ctor(ResolvePackageAssets task)
   at Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks.ResolvePackageAssets.ReadItemGroups()
   at Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks.ResolvePackageAssets.ExecuteCore()
   at Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks.TaskBase.Execute()
   at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskExecutionHost.Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.ITaskExecutionHost.Execute()
   at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskBuilder.ExecuteInstantiatedTask(ITaskExecutionHost taskExecutionHost, TaskLoggingContext taskLoggingContext, TaskHost taskHost, ItemBucket bucket, TaskExecutionMode howToExecuteTask)


[Failure] Msbuild failed when processing the file 'C:\projects\NoComment\NoComment.SimplestAssembly\NoComment.SimplestAssembly.csproj' with message: C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\3.1.301\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.NET.GenerateAssemblyInfo.targets: (163, 5): The "GetAssemblyVersion" task failed unexpectedly.
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'NuGet.Versioning, Version=5.6.0.5, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35'. The system cannot find the file specified.
File name: 'NuGet.Versioning, Version=5.6.0.5, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load the specified file.
File name: 'NuGet.Versioning'
   at System.Runtime.Loader.AssemblyLoadContext.ResolveUsingEvent(AssemblyName assemblyName)
   at System.Runtime.Loader.AssemblyLoadContext.ResolveUsingResolvingEvent(IntPtr gchManagedAssemblyLoadContext, AssemblyName assemblyName)
   at Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks.GetAssemblyVersion.ExecuteCore()
   at Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks.TaskBase.Execute()
   at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskExecutionHost.Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.ITaskExecutionHost.Execute()
   at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskBuilder.ExecuteInstantiatedTask(ITaskExecutionHost taskExecutionHost, TaskLoggingContext taskLoggingContext, TaskHost taskHost, ItemBucket bucket, TaskExecutionMode howToExecuteTask)

The project I'm trying to open is really simple, the default class library template:

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

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp2.1</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>

namespace SimplestAssembly
{
    public class Class1
    {
    }
}

Answer 1

Can you please add the following NuGet package references to your project and try again?

• NuGet.Frameworks
• NuGet.Packaging
• NuGet.ProjectModel
• NuGet.Versioning

MsBuild is trying to do a restore (ResolvePackageAssets task) and it needs these packages.

Answer 2

I solved this by running it on a windows machine, after installing the .NET Framework 4.8 Developer Pack from https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-framework/net48 .