Why Does Robocopy Skip A File During Builds? - robocopy

Question

I added a robocopy file to my post build event in my C# project. X64 Release and Debug build fine, as does X86 Debug, however the X86 Release option does NOT copy the Get-Parent-Device.exe file to the target.
Why?
Note: I can always just add a step and copy over the file manually just for that specific configuration and that would "solve" my problem, however I want to understand what issue robocopy had. The source and destination are fine, permissions are fine, just X86/Release does not work.
What is interesting is that if I right click on the solution and select build, robocopy works on that configuration. What does not work is if I use Visual Build Professional and build all configurations of the project.
Here is the log+ file:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Started : Tuesday, September 25, 2018 10:16:57 AM
Source : C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\Get-Parent-Device\Release\
Dest : C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\bin\x86\Release\
Files : Get-Parent-Device.exe
Options : /V /DCOPY:DA /COPY:DAT /IS /R:1000000 /W:30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\Get-Parent-Device\Release\
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Copied Skipped Mismatch FAILED Extras
Dirs : 1 0 1 0 0 0
Files : 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bytes : 0 0 0 0 0 0
Times : 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00
Ended : Tuesday, September 25, 2018 10:16:57 AM
Here are the relevant steps from the post build event:
robocopy /V /IS /log+:"$(TargetDir)robo.log" "$(ProjectDir)..\Get-Parent-Device\Release" $(TargetDir) Get-Parent-Device.exe
robocopy "$(ProjectDir)..\packages\System.Data.SQLite.Core.1.0.108.0\build\net46\$(PlatformName)" $(TargetDir) SQLite.Interop.dll
exit 0
Here is a screenshot of the build steps.
I saw the recommendation to use /MIR, but I do not want to mirror, just copy that specific file. Sadly, /log, /log+, and /v do not provide very verbose information on why in this specific instance, robocopy felt the need to not copy over the file.
I do not like to sweep the problem under the rug or to to understand a technical problem, hence my post here. My concern is that if I cannot rely on Robocopy, then it might be a bad choice for use inside Visual Studio. I need a reliable copy, not an unreliable one.
XCOPY TRIAL:
That did not work. So far the best solution is still a Visual Build Pro instruction for that specific configuration. :-(
PostBuildEvent:
"C:\Program Files\Editors\VisBuildPro9\Tools\signtool.exe" sign /f "C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\jmrDigicert-2017-NoChain.pfx" /p 1234 /t http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll "C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\bin\x64\Debug\MyProject.exe"
xcopy /i "C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\..\Get-Parent-Device\Release\Get-Parent-Device.exe" C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\bin\x64\Debug\
robocopy "C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\..\packages\System.Data.SQLite.Core.1.0.108.0\build\net46\x64" C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\bin\x64\Debug\ SQLite.Interop.dll
robocopy "C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\..\..\Redistributables" C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\bin\x64\Debug\ AMBackup.exe
exit 0
Done Adding Additional Store
Successfully signed and timestamped: C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\bin\x64\Debug\MyProject.exe
C:\Users\Sarah\Source\Workspaces\MyProject\Flavor\Net\1.0\App\MyProject\..\Get-Parent-Device\Release\Get-Parent-Device.exe
1 File(s) copied
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Answer 1

Robocopy is designed to only copy changed files, but the option /IS you have added is suppose to copy whatever you like. Try to add parameter /IT (Includes "tweaked" files), but in my experience it is not reliable either.
This post How do I force Robocopy to overwrite files? confirm my findings. Their solution was same as mine: use XCOPY.
This https://superuser.com/questions/314503/what-does-robocopy-mean-by-tweaked-lonely-and-extra/445137#445137 table shows how robocopy groups files.
Edit:
The error message you get is typically that "file does not exists" in source.Since your XCOPY test also failed then I'm 100% sure that the file does not exists.
Se example below:
C:\>dir x
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is CE46-5CC1
Directory of C:\x
25.09.2018 23:37 <DIR> .
25.09.2018 23:37 <DIR> ..
27.07.2016 15:09 1 209 somefile
1 File(s) 1 209 bytes
2 Dir(s) 125 137 285 120 bytes free
C:\>robocopy /IS x y somefile
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Started : tirsdag 25. september 2018 23:38:07
Source : C:\x\
Dest : C:\y\
Files : somefile
Options : /DCOPY:DA /COPY:DAT /IS /R:1000000 /W:30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 C:\x\
100% New File 1209 somefile
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Copied Skipped Mismatch FAILED Extras
Dirs : 1 0 1 0 0 0
Files : 1 1 0 0 0 0
Bytes : 1.1 k 1.1 k 0 0 0 0
Times : 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00
Speed : 1209000 Bytes/sec.
Speed : 69.179 MegaBytes/min.
Ended : tirsdag 25. september 2018 23:38:07
C:\>robocopy /IS x y somefile
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Started : tirsdag 25. september 2018 23:38:13
Source : C:\x\
Dest : C:\y\
Files : somefile
Options : /DCOPY:DA /COPY:DAT /IS /R:1000000 /W:30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 C:\x\
100% Same 1209 somefile
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Copied Skipped Mismatch FAILED Extras
Dirs : 1 0 1 0 0 0
Files : 1 1 0 0 0 0
Bytes : 1.1 k 1.1 k 0 0 0 0
Times : 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00
Speed : 1209000 Bytes/sec.
Speed : 69.179 MegaBytes/min.
Ended : tirsdag 25. september 2018 23:38:13
C:\>robocopy /IS x y somefilex
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Started : tirsdag 25. september 2018 23:38:17
Source : C:\x\
Dest : C:\y\
Files : somefilex
Options : /DCOPY:DA /COPY:DAT /IS /R:1000000 /W:30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 C:\x\
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Copied Skipped Mismatch FAILED Extras
Dirs : 1 0 1 0 0 0
Files : 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bytes : 0 0 0 0 0 0
Times : 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00
Ended : tirsdag 25. september 2018 23:38:17
C:\>
I have encountered simular problems when building in Visual Studio. But I had to change the Build Dependencies and build order to solve it.
You could try to add a small delay in the post build, try adding like:
ping 127.0.0.1 -n 3 > nul
It will pause for 2 seconds before it continues...