Prerelease versioning in NuGet - nuget

Question

I am trying to create a NuGet pre-release package. Here is my NuSpec file:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package >
<metadata>
<id>xxx.Web.Mvc</id>
<version>1.0.3-prelrelease1</version>
<authors>xxx</authors>
<owners>xxx</owners>
<projectUrl>https://xxx</projectUrl>
<requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
<description>xxxx.</description>
<releaseNotes>NuGet package.</releaseNotes>
<copyright>Copyright 2013 xxx</copyright>
<tags>asmx xxx</tags>
<dependencies>
<dependency id="Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc" version="4.0.30506.0" />
<dependency id="Microsoft.AspNet.Razor" version="2.0.30506.0" />
<dependency id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebPages" version="2.0.30506.0" />
<dependency id="Microsoft.Web.Infrastructure" version="1.0.0.0" />
<dependency id="xxx" version="1.0.6" />
</dependencies>
</metadata>
</package>
Note I am using the SemVer mechanism for the pre-release version.
However, when I build my package using:
PM> nuget pack Package.nuspec
I get:
nuget : Input string was not in a correct format.
At line:1 char:1
+ nuget pack Package.nuspec
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (Input string wa...correct format.:String) [], RemoteException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError
This directly refers to my having alphabetic characters in the version string.
I am using NuGet 2.2/VS2012.
How come my version string isn't being recognised?
Update
I've reduced the file to:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <package > <metadata>
<id>xxx</id>
<version>1.0.3-test1</version>
<authors>xxx</authors>
<owners>xxx</owners>
<requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
<description>xxx</description> </metadata> </package>
and a single file in the ~\content folder:
~\content\New Journal Document.jnt
(First time I've seen Windows Journal. Thought I'd try it to make a simple file. :/ )

Answer 1

Fixed it.
Despite reinstalling NuGet 2.x, it seems I still have a v1.5 hanging around.
Seems the Powershell environment was using this version and the Package Manager Console Host Version 2.7.40911.225 message didn't refer to the version of PowerShell, just the host. Seems obvious now I know.
I've manhandled the file and overwritten it.
All now working.

Answer 2

So both this:
NuGet.exe" pack ".\MyPackage.nuspec" -Version 1.0.1-alpha
and
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<package>
<metadata>
<id>MyCoolPackage</id>
<version>1.0.1-alpha</version>
<authors>MyAuthors</authors>
<owners>MyOwner</owners>
<!-- <licenseUrl>http://www.yourLicenseUrl.com</licenseUrl> -->
<projectUrl>http://www.yourProjectUrl</projectUrl>
<iconUrl>http://www.yourIconUrl.com</iconUrl>
<requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
<description>BuildDate : 2013_10_16__17:13:46</description>
<releaseNotes>My Release Notes.</releaseNotes>
<copyright>Copyright 2013</copyright>
<tags>MyTag1 MyTag2</tags>
<dependencies>
<!--
<dependency id="SampleDependency" version="1.0" />
-->
</dependencies>
</metadata>
</package>
worked for me.
I am using 2.7.40809.172.
So try:
( Number 1 )
take out your
<dependencies>
(just for kicks)
( Number 2 )
~try a later version of
NuGet.exe
(although based on the documentation, you should be ok)
I pulled
1.0.1-alpha
straight from the documentation.
Start with that, then work your way up to your custom value.
http://docs.nuget.org/docs/reference/versioning
So I took your nuspec , and put it in my demo code.
and it worked! (I'm xml updating the description, fyi, thus the small discrepancy) (see xml below)
But I got a nice "xxx.Web.Mvc.1.0.3-prelrelease1.nupkg" file created.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2013/05/nuspec.xsd">
<metadata>
<id>xxx.Web.Mvc</id>
<version>1.0.3-prelrelease1</version>
<authors>xxx</authors>
<owners>xxx</owners>
<projectUrl>https://xxx</projectUrl>
<requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
<description>BuildDate : 2013_10_17__11:29:15</description>
<releaseNotes>NuGet package.</releaseNotes>
<copyright>Copyright 2013 xxx</copyright>
<tags>asmx xxx</tags>
<dependencies>
<dependency id="Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc" version="4.0.30506.0" />
<dependency id="Microsoft.AspNet.Razor" version="2.0.30506.0" />
<dependency id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebPages" version="2.0.30506.0" />
<dependency id="Microsoft.Web.Infrastructure" version="1.0.0.0" />
</dependencies>
</metadata>
</package>
So maybe it has something to do with the "contents", not the spec.
So you can do a "basic" package, like:
.\Package.nuspec
.\content\
.\content\SomeImageFile.png
.\lib\
.\lib\net20\SomeDll.dll
and see if that works with your nuspec file with the pre-release versioning?