HeatDirectory failure on TFS with MSBUILD error MSB4166: Child node “3” exited prematurely

1
votes


I'm using HeatDirectory task in my *.wixproj file, which is working very fine on my machine, being built locally.

However, on TFS, it is failing with following error:

C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.8\bin\Heat.exe dir D:\Builds\32\48\bin\Debug\InstallSrc\WebApp\ -cg CompGrp_WebApp -dr WebApp -ke -scom -sreg -srd -var var.WebAppSrc -v -ag -sfrag -suid -out WebApp_.wxs Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.8\bin\Heat.exe' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadFrom(String assemblyFile, Evidence securityEvidence, Byte[] hashValue, AssemblyHashAlgorithm hashAlgorithm, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks, StackCrawlMark& stackMark) at System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFrom(String assemblyFile) at Microsoft.Tools.WindowsInstallerXml.Build.Tasks.WixToolTask.ExecuteToolThread(Object parameters) 0>MSBUILD : error MSB4166: Child node "3" exited prematurely. Shutting down. Diagnostic information may be found in files in the temporary files directory named MSBuild*.failure.txt.

However, on same build machine, I tried to execute heat command line (generated by above log) and got it working fine: i.e. C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.8\bin\Heat.exe dir D:\Builds\32\48\bin\Debug\InstallSrc\WebApp\ -cg CompGrp_WebApp -dr WebApp -ke -scom -sreg -srd -var var.WebAppSrc -v -ag -sfrag -suid -out WebApp_.wxs

I even tried it, by disabling MsBuild Multi-Proc (building projects in parallel) in TFS definition, but in vain.

Why it is failing on TFS, but not locally?

Thanks a bunch.....

1
msbuildwixheat

1 Answers

6
votes

I got a good response on Wix-User's mailing group. Basically it was MsBuild Platform issue. It was Auto and needed to be set as x86. As my solution is building x64 projects, so MsBuild was in x64 mode, but heat.exe was not and so MsBuild would give this message in log (as showed in original post above)

Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.8\bin\Heat.exe' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format

So, change Auto to x86 i.e.
TFS --> Edit Build Definition --> Process --> Advanced --> MSBuild Platform = X86.

Hope this helps others facing same issue.

TFS MSBUILD platform changing