I’m running into a really weird error. My C# classes protoc generation process isn’t working anymore. But it used to works properly, and I’m not sure that I changed anything (I’m fairly certain that it worked great on a build, then the following one crashed)

I’m packaging a simple Nuget Package containing a Protos/ directory with 2 protofiles.

Using the Nuget Package Explorer, here is the Package contents:

Now I import the package in a new project, I also import the Grpc tools and I include the 2 Protofiles:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <PackageReference Include="Tests.Tests.TestCodeFirstGrpc" Version="1.0.262" GeneratePathProperty="true" />
        <PackageReference Include="Google.Protobuf" Version="3.27.2" />
        <PackageReference Include="Grpc.Net.Client" Version="2.64.0" />
        <PackageReference Include="Grpc.Tools" Version="2.65.0">
            <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
            <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
        </PackageReference>
    </ItemGroup>
    <ItemGroup>
        <Protobuf Include="$(PkgTests_Tests_TestCodeFirstGrpc)contentProtos***.proto" GrpcServices="Client" />
    </ItemGroup>

</Project>

The files are presents in my project:

But when I run a compilation, it fails with the error : objDebugnet8.0/ : error : No such file or directory

So I made the debugger more verbose, and here is the full logs from the ProtoCompile task:

Using “ProtoCompile” task from assembly “C:Usersxxx.nugetpackagesgrpc.tools2.65.0build_protobufnet45Protobuf.MSBuild.dll”.
Task “ProtoCompile”
C:Usersxxx.nugetpackagesgrpc.tools2.65.0toolswindows_x64protoc.exe –csharp_out=objDebugnet8.0 –plugin=protoc-gen-grpc=C:Usersxxx.nugetpackagesgrpc.tools2.65.0toolswindows_x64grpc_csharp_plugin.exe –grpc_out=objDebugnet8.0 –grpc_opt=no_server –proto_path=C:Usersxxx.nugetpackagesgrpc.tools2.65.0buildnativeinclude –proto_path=C:Usersxxx.nugetpackagestests.tests.testcodefirstgrpc1.0.262contentProtos –dependency_out=objDebugnet8.089b491885fed334d_GreeterServiceContract.protodep –error_format=msvs C:Usersxxx.nugetpackagestests.tests.testcodefirstgrpc1.0.262contentProtosGreeterServiceContract.proto
objDebugnet8.0/ : error : No such file or directory
The command exited with code 1.
Done executing task “ProtoCompile” — FAILED.
Done building target “_Protobuf_CoreCompile” in project “TestGrpc.csproj” — FAILED.

Here are some solutions I tried before posting:

• The error appeared with an older version of the Grpc.Tools library, so I tried to update it to the latest, but nothing changed. The older version used to work before.
• I tried to clear the Nuget Cache
• I tried to restart my computer
• I tried to run Visual Studio as an Administrator
• I was not running the latest Visual Studio Community version so I updated to the latest (17.10.4)
• I tried to recreate a new project from scratch on a newer solution, with the exact same csproj, and the error appears too
• I tried to recreate manually the Protos/ dir and manually created the protofiles into it without the import of the nuget, and the Grpc tool is still giving me the same error
• I tried to modify the path of the “Include” tag. Putting an incorrect path in the tag results in a successful compilation of the project, without any C# class generated. But when I use the correct path, it fails.

I’m running out of options to try, at this point I just want to completely uninstall the tool in case the issue is coming from it, but I don’t know how to do it.

Can you please help me to resolve this issue?