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Build Execution

After you've set up a build you can run it either through the global tool or one of the installed bootstrapping scripts:

nuke [arguments]
info

This document discusses the default build arguments (also referred to as parameters). You will learn how to define custom parameters in a following chapter.

tip

The global tool makes running builds a lot easier. Once you've configured the shell completion, you can enter arguments much faster and avoid any typos. It also allows you to run a build from anywhere below the root directory without having to go back to where the bootstrapping scripts are located.

Build Summary​

Once a build has finished running an execution plan, it will print a comprehensive summary with all involved targets, their outcome, duration, and additional metadata:

═══════════════════════════════════════

Target             Status      Duration

───────────────────────────────────────

Restore            Succeeded       0:16

Compile            Succeeded       0:59   // Version: 5.3.0-alpha.35

Test               Succeeded       0:41   // Passed: 327, Skipped: 6

Pack               Succeeded       0:10   // Packages: 4

───────────────────────────────────────

Total                              2:08

═══════════════════════════════════════



Build succeeded on 12/17/2024, 12:18:25 AM. οΌΌοΌˆοΌΎα΄—οΌΎοΌ‰οΌ

Invoking Targets​

You can invoke a single target or a set of targets either through positional or named arguments:

nuke <target> [other-targets...]
tip

Passing targets as named arguments allows you to quickly overwrite the invoked targets without moving the caret to the front of a long invocation command.

Skipping Targets​

You can skip all or individual targets from the execution plan that are not specifically invoked:

nuke [targets] --skip
tip

Skipping targets can greatly improve your troubleshooting experience. Irrelevant targets won't waste execution time, and there is no need to temporarily change dependencies between targets.

Aborting Builds​

At any moment during execution, you can hit Ctrl-C to abort the build with a SIGINT signal. Targets that were running at the time will be marked with the Aborted status:

═══════════════════════════════════════
Target             Status      Duration
───────────────────────────────────────
Restore            Succeeded       0:16
Compile            Aborted         0:01
Pack               NotRun
───────────────────────────────────────
Total                              0:17
═══════════════════════════════════════

Continuing Builds​

You can continue a failed or aborted build from the first point of failure:

nuke [arguments...] --continue

All previously succeeded targets will be skipped automatically, which can save a lot of unnecessary execution time:

═══════════════════════════════════════
Target             Status      Duration
───────────────────────────────────────
Restore            Skipped
Compile            Succeeded       0:15
Pack               Succeeded       0:05
───────────────────────────────────────
Total                              0:20
═══════════════════════════════════════
tip

When you combine the --continue argument with the dotnet watch command, you can establish a very tight feedback loop while working on your target implementation. Just go to the build project directory and call:

dotnet watch run -- [arguments..] --continue
caution

The state of the build instance is NOT serialized. I.e., if a succeeded target produced data for a failed target, that data won't be available during the continuation of the build.

Moreover, a build can only reliably continue when the invocation is the same as in the previous attempt. That means that you can only add the --continue switch but not change any other arguments. If this rule is violated, the build will start from the very beginning.

Help Text​

When you're coming back to a repository or build you haven't worked on in a while, you can bring up the integrated help text by calling:

nuke --help

This allows you to inspect all available targets with their direct dependencies as well as parameters with their descriptions:

Targets (with their direct dependencies):

  Clean
  Restore
  Compile (default)    -> Restore

Parameters:

  --configuration         Configuration to build - Default is 'Debug' (local) or
                          'Release' (server).

  --continue              Indicates to continue a previously failed build attempt.
  --help                  Shows the help text for this build assembly.
  --host                  Host for execution. Default is 'automatic'.
  --no-logo               Disables displaying the NUKE logo.
  --plan                  Shows the execution plan (HTML).
  --profile               Defines the profiles to load.
  --root                  Root directory during build execution.
  --skip                  List of targets to be skipped. Empty list skips all
                          dependencies.
  --target                List of targets to be invoked. Default is 'Compile'.
  --verbosity             Logging verbosity during build execution. Default is
                          'Normal'.

Execution Plans​

In order to get a better understanding of how your builds are structured, you can load a visual representation of the different execution plans by calling:

nuke --plan

Hovering a target will show its individual execution plan, that means, all targets that are going to be executed when one specific target is invoked. The style of an edge (solid/dashed/yellow) between two targets indicates their dependency relation (execution/ordering/trigger):

Visualizing Execution Plans

info

When no targets are hovered, the execution plan for the default targets is highlighted.