Problem running PS module based on .NET 8 in PowerShell 7.2

Question

I have a PowerShell module written in C#. Recently I upgraded it to .NET 8. My project file looks like this:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <RuntimeIdentifier>win-x64</RuntimeIdentifier>
    <AssemblyName>MyAssemblyName</AssemblyName>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    <Version>0.0.0</Version>
    <AssemblyVersion>0.0.0</AssemblyVersion>
    <SelfContained>true</SelfContained>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="PowerShellStandard.Library" Version="5.1.0-preview-06">
      <PrivateAssets>All</PrivateAssets>
    </PackageReference>
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <ProjectReference Include="..\..\Path\To\Domain\Project.csproj" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

I publish it like this:

dotnet publish $projectFile --self-contained --configuration Release --output C:\Some\Path

The module works fine in PowerShell 7.4 but does not work in PowerShell 7.2. Import-Module always fails with this error:

Import-Module: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Console, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a'. Could not find or load a specific file. (0x80131621)

Is this expected? When I publish as self-contained, I expect it will work without a need to upgrade PowerShell. Is the expectation wrong?

This issue is expected, net8 didn't even exist in 7.2. If you want your module to be compatible with pwsh 7 LTS you should publish using net6. Example for multitarget project: github.com/santisq/PSADTree/blob/main/src/PSADTree/… — Santiago Squarzon
– Santiago Squarzon, Commented Apr 4, 2024 at 16:11
see: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/install/… — Santiago Squarzon
– Santiago Squarzon, Commented Apr 4, 2024 at 16:16
Thank you Santiago. Why I thought it should NOT matter that net8 didn't even exist: "Publishing your app as self-contained produces an application that includes the .NET runtime and libraries, and your application and its dependencies. Users of the application can run it on a machine that doesn't have the .NET runtime installed." (from MS docs). So I tried to build my PS module as self-contained and expected it to work. — Petr
– Petr, Commented Apr 5, 2024 at 13:30
Ah yeah, wouldn't work like that for a PowerShell module, I believe that description would be valid for, for example, a Console Application. PowerShell is already depending on a specific version of .NET. Basically the reason why you always want PrivateAssets="all" for the package reference of the powershell SDK. — Santiago Squarzon
– Santiago Squarzon, Commented Apr 5, 2024 at 13:32

Santiago Squarzon · Accepted Answer · 2024-04-04 16:42:18Z

0

This issue is expected, PowerShell 7.2 (LTS-previous) is based of .NET 6. If you want your module to be fully compatible with pwsh 7 users (v7.2+) you should publish targeting net6.0. See PowerShell End-of-support dates for reference.

There is also the possibility to have a multi-target project, see for example PSADTree.csproj which creates a specific assembly for Windows PowerShell 5.1 users and PowerShell 7+ users. The in your .psd1 you can use different conditions to determine which .dll should be used, example PSADTree.psd1#L12-L17:

RootModule = if ($PSEdition -eq 'Core') {
    'bin/net6.0/PSADTree.dll'
}
else {
    'bin/net472/PSADTree.dll'
}

Unfortunately, the .psd1 will not have access to $PSVersionTable if you desire to multitarget for net6, 7 & 8 separately. In that case you would define this logic in a .psm1.

answered Apr 4, 2024 at 16:42

Santiago Squarzon

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2 Comments

Petr Over a year ago

This looks cool, I never realized this is possible. In my case I'd check for $PSVersionTable.PSVersion.Major -eq 7 -and $PSVersionTable.PSVersion.Minor -eq 2 (direct that one to dll built with .NET 6) etc. But not going to do that as my goal is to upgrade my code to .NET 8. I was investigating if there is a way to run the upgraded module on PS versions lower than 7.4. Build it as self-contained is nonsense, right?

Santiago Squarzon Over a year ago

@Petr as explained in the comment a few minutes ago, you might have it working but might fail very easily. Try using <PackageReference Include="System.Management.Automation" Version="7.2.0" PrivateAssets="all" /> instead of <PackageReference Include="PowerShellStandard.Library" Version="5.1.0-preview-06">

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