.NET 8.0.201-> 8.0.202 SDK update breaks build

[AArnott]

Describe the bug

An android project I have stopped building after upgrading the .NET SDK from 8.0.201 to 8.0.202, with this error:

5>C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\8.0.202\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.NET.Sdk.ImportWorkloads.targets(38,5): error NETSDK1147: To build this project, the following workloads must be installed: wasi-experimental

I don't expect a servicing update to add a requirement to install a new workload. And in particular, I don't expect an android project to require wasi-experimental, which I don't recognize and am nervous to install since it says experimental in the name.

To Reproduce

Try building the android project in this minimal repro repo:

https://github.com/AArnott/Avalonia-WithNativeDependency.git

Further technical details

I'm using VS 17.9.2

 dotnet --info
.NET SDK:
 Version:           8.0.202
 Commit:            25674bb2f4
 Workload version:  8.0.200-manifests.65e53ec0

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  10.0.22631
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win-x64
 Base Path:   C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\8.0.202\

.NET workloads installed:
 [ios]
   Installation Source: VS 17.10.34607.79, VS 17.9.34622.214
   Manifest Version:    17.2.8022/8.0.100
   Manifest Path:       C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk-manifests\8.0.100\microsoft.net.sdk.ios\17.2.8022\WorkloadManifest.json
   Install Type:              Msi

 [maui-windows]
   Installation Source: VS 17.10.34607.79, VS 17.9.34622.214
   Manifest Version:    8.0.6/8.0.100
   Manifest Path:       C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk-manifests\8.0.100\microsoft.net.sdk.maui\8.0.6\WorkloadManifest.json
   Install Type:              Msi

 [maccatalyst]
   Installation Source: VS 17.10.34607.79, VS 17.9.34622.214
   Manifest Version:    17.2.8022/8.0.100
   Manifest Path:       C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk-manifests\8.0.100\microsoft.net.sdk.maccatalyst\17.2.8022\WorkloadManifest.json
   Install Type:              Msi

 [android]
   Installation Source: VS 17.10.34607.79, VS 17.9.34622.214
   Manifest Version:    34.0.79/8.0.100
   Manifest Path:       C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk-manifests\8.0.100\microsoft.net.sdk.android\34.0.79\WorkloadManifest.json
   Install Type:              Msi


Host:
  Version:      8.0.3
  Architecture: x64
  Commit:       9f4b1f5d66

.NET SDKs installed:
  7.0.407 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  8.0.103 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  8.0.200 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  8.0.202 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 6.0.27 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 7.0.16 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 7.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 8.0.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 8.0.3 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.27 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.28 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 7.0.16 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 7.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 8.0.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 8.0.3 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.27 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.28 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 7.0.16 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 7.0.17 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 8.0.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 8.0.3 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

Other architectures found:
  x86   [C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet]
    registered at [HKLM\SOFTWARE\dotnet\Setup\InstalledVersions\x86\InstallLocation]

Environment variables:
  Not set

global.json file:
  Not found

Learn more:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/info

Download .NET:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/download

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

I got a similar problem with .NET SDK 8.0.103 on a CI server, but the problem went away when I ran dotnet workload update (which the CI runner was not authorized to do). According to dotnet workload list, the wasi-experimental workload still has not been installed.

MSBuild log had shown MissingWorkloadPack Include="Microsoft.NET.Runtime.MonoTargets.Sdk" Version="8.0.3". C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk-manifests\8.0.100\microsoft.net.workload.mono.toolchain.current\8.0.3\WorkloadManifest.json shows "Microsoft.NET.Runtime.MonoTargets.Sdk" is part of the "microsoft-net-runtime-mono-tooling" workload, which the "wasi-experimental" workload extends. The "microsoft-net-runtime-mono-tooling" workload itself is marked "abstract": true; I guess that's why the ShowMissingWorkloads task in .NET SDK chose to suggest a different workload, "wasi-experimental" in this case.

The "wasi-experimental" workload was a bad choice, however. It would have been much better if ShowMissingWorkloads had detected that

• the "android" workload had already been installed
• the "android" workload extends the abstract "microsoft-net-runtime-android" workload
• the abstract "microsoft-net-runtime-android" workload extends the abstract "microsoft-net-runtime-mono-tooling" workload

and recommended updating the "android" workload.

This code looks relevant:

sdk/src/Resolvers/Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WorkloadManifestReader/WorkloadSuggestionFinder.cs

Lines 188 to 191 in eb70f97

	internal static WorkloadSuggestion GetBestSuggestion(ICollection<WorkloadSuggestion> suggestions) => FindBest(
	suggestions,
	(x, y) => y.ExtraPacks - x.ExtraPacks,
	(x, y) => y.Workloads.Count - x.Workloads.Count);

I guess the "wasi-experimental" workload is the smallest one that extends "microsoft-net-runtime-mono-tooling" and that caused WorkloadSuggestionFinder to choose it. This scoring should be highly weighted by whether some versions of the workloads have already been installed.

[AArnott]

Thanks for the analysis, @KalleOlaviNiemitalo. I agree that change sounds like it will be an improvement better. And as was the case for you, running dotnet workload restore as the error message suggested did resolve the problem.

The main core of the issue is that a servicing update to the .NET SDK broke the build. While I'm generally supportive of SDK updates breaking things, servicing updates IMO shouldn't do this. The .NET team has asked me to file issues any time an SDK version update breaks stuff, so I also filed it for tracking purposes.

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

I ran dotnet workload update, not dotnet workload restore.

In my opinion, if Microsoft Update installs a .NET SDK update that is not compatible with installed workload versions, then it should update the workloads too, rather than expect an administrator to do that. But it would be better not to have the incompatibility in the first place.

[AArnott]

In my case, it wasn't Microsoft Update. I installed the newer SDK myself.

[baronfel]

Thanks for the investigation @KalleOlaviNiemitalo - I was talking to the team earlier about this one and had the same hypothesis, which they confirmed.

The code is using heuristics to find the minimal set of workload(s) that would satisfy the pack requirements, but we need to include more contextual data that would help us suggest workloads that the user had installed before, or allowed us to de-prioritize certain kinds of workloads.

[nagilson]

What came of our plan to auto run workload update?

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

I attempted to work around this issue by setting up a scheduled task that runs dotnet workload update --from-previous-sdk daily, with the intention that this would fix workloads after Microsoft Update has updated .NET SDK. However, when this command was run using .NET SDK 9.0.103, it did not restore the Android workload of .NET SDK 8.0.113 to a usable state, even though the command included the--from-previous-sdk option and it spent several minutes installing and uninstalling workload packages.

I manually triggered the scheduled task again, and it installed and uninstalled workload packages again. That seems a bug to me; if the first update already succeeded, then the second update should just detect that there is nothing more to update.

I then removed the --from-previous-sdk option and reconfigured the scheduled task to run the command in a directory that contains a global.json file that specifies .NET SDK 8.0. That works.

In this computer, all the projects that target Android have global.json files specify .NET SDK 8.0. This is why I have not installed any workloads for .NET SDK 9.0.

I am left wondering what the purpose of the --from-previous-sdk option is if it doesn't work in this scenario. The documentation is rather terse:

• --from-previous-sdk

  Include workloads installed with previous SDK versions in the update.

Logs and system information

dotnet workload update --from-previous-sdk on .NET SDK 9.0.103: Microsoft.NET.Workload_13564_20250214_133621_827_redacted.log

dotnet workload update on .NET SDK 8.0.113: Microsoft.NET.Workload_13604_20250214_134608_622_redacted.log

dotnet --info on .NET SDK 9.0.103:

.NET SDK:
 Version:           9.0.103
 Commit:            96da45d427
 Workload version:  9.0.100-manifests.c4f6226a
 MSBuild version:   17.12.24+90b52dda6

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  6.3.9600
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win-x64
 Base Path:   C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\9.0.103\

.NET workloads installed:
There are no installed workloads to display.
Configured to use loose manifests when installing new manifests.

Host:
  Version:      9.0.2
  Architecture: x64
  Commit:       80aa709f5d

.NET SDKs installed:
  2.1.526 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  6.0.428 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  8.0.113 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  9.0.103 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.30 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.30 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 6.0.36 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 8.0.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 9.0.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.30 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.32 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.36 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 8.0.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 9.0.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.1.32 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.36 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 8.0.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 9.0.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

Other architectures found:
  None

Environment variables:
  Not set

global.json file:
  Not found

Learn more:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/info

Download .NET:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/download

dotnet --info on .NET SDK 8.0.113:

.NET SDK:
 Version:           8.0.113
 Commit:            67977f6ab7
 Workload version:  8.0.100-manifests.47a3a0ce

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  6.3.9600
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win-x64
 Base Path:   C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\8.0.113\

.NET workloads installed:
 Workload version: 8.0.100-manifests.47a3a0ce
 [android]
   Installation Source: SDK 8.0.100
   Manifest Version:    34.0.147/8.0.100
   Manifest Path:       C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk-manifests\8.0.100\microsoft.net.sdk.android\34.0.147\WorkloadManifest.json
   Install Type:              Msi


Host:
  Version:      9.0.2
  Architecture: x64
  Commit:       80aa709f5d

.NET SDKs installed:
  2.1.526 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  6.0.428 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  8.0.113 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  9.0.103 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.30 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.30 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 6.0.36 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 8.0.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 9.0.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.30 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.32 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.36 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 8.0.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 9.0.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.1.32 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.36 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 8.0.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 9.0.2 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

Other architectures found:
  None

Environment variables:
  Not set

global.json file:
  C:\users\[REDACTED]\dotnet-8.0-workload\global.json

Learn more:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/info

Download .NET:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet/download