Explictily log working directory and let user know it will be used as content root path by default.

[voroninp]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe the problem.

It's not the first time I making same mistake of starting published asp.net core application in docker without setting working directory:

ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "/app/api.dll"]

And content root path becomes /, so appsettings and other content files are not found. This causes app to fail on startup.

Host logs its content root path much later, so in case of failure I do not get a message like:

Content root path: /app

Describe the solution you'd like

IMO, if host logged current working directory it would be much friendlier to the developer:

Current working directory is /. If Content root path is not set explicitly, then working directory is ued by default.

Additional context

No response

[dotnet-issue-labeler]

I couldn't figure out the best area label to add to this issue. If you have write-permissions please help me learn by adding exactly one area label.

[BrennanConroy]

We might be able to log this sooner, e.g. between ConfigureHostConfiguration and ConfigureAppConfiguration.

It also should be easy to add this to your app by adding a Console.WriteLine(host.Environment.ContentRoot); inside ConfigureAppConfiguration or before WebApplicationBuilder.Build(); depending on the host you're using.

[voroninp]

It also should be easy to add this to your app

One should know Content Root is affected by working directory to want it to be logged. ;-)

[ghost]

Tagging subscribers to this area: @dotnet/area-extensions-configuration
See info in area-owners.md if you want to be subscribed.

Issue Details

---

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe the problem.

It's not the first time I making same mistake of starting published asp.net core application in docer without setting working directory:

ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "/app/api.dll"]

And content root path becomes /, so appsettings and other content files are not found. This causes app to fail on startup.

Host logs its content root path much later, so in case of failure I do not get a message like:

Content root path: /app

Describe the solution you'd like

IMO, if host logged current working directory it would be much friendlier to the developer:

Current working directory is /. If Content root path is not set explicitly, then working directory is ued by default.

Additional context

No response

Author:	voroninp
Assignees:	-
Labels:	untriaged, area-Extensions-Configuration
Milestone:	-

[ghost]

Tagging subscribers to this area: @dotnet/area-extensions-hosting
See info in area-owners.md if you want to be subscribed.

Issue Details

---

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe the problem.

It's not the first time I making same mistake of starting published asp.net core application in docer without setting working directory:

ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "/app/api.dll"]

And content root path becomes /, so appsettings and other content files are not found. This causes app to fail on startup.

Host logs its content root path much later, so in case of failure I do not get a message like:

Content root path: /app

Describe the solution you'd like

IMO, if host logged current working directory it would be much friendlier to the developer:

Current working directory is /. If Content root path is not set explicitly, then working directory is ued by default.

Additional context

No response

Author:	voroninp
Assignees:	-
Labels:	untriaged, area-Extensions-Hosting
Milestone:	-

[tmds]

I'm not sure what the design rationale was for making the ContentRoot default to the working directory?

This breaks apps that depend on files that sit besides the app, like appsettings or Razor files.

hostBuilder.UseContentRoot(AppContext.BaseDirectory)

makes the problem disappear.

Note: the content root can also be set using the DOTNET_CONTENTROOT envvar.

[voroninp]

@tmds , this should be in project template, IMO.

[tmds]

@davidfowl do you know why ContentRoot defaults to the working directory?

Any thoughts on including:

hostBuilder.UseContentRoot(AppContext.BaseDirectory)

in the templates?

[steveharter]

The previous merge was reverted due to concerns in #85809 which need to be addressed for the next go.

[pedrobsaila]

@steveharter the concerns varied from don't need this log at all to we can keep it with adjustments. So what is the target here ?

In case we take the adjustment road, I'm not convinced at all with making the log level Debug, it's rare that someone launches an application with this min log level : from what I see in the community, we configure min log level as Information for Debug/Development environments and Warning/Error is used for integration/test/production environments. Downgrading to Debug means that no one will ever see it making it useless.

[tmds]

The underlying issue is that ASP.NET apps that come with content files (like Razor pages and appsettings files), the files are published with the app, but the app goes looking for them in the working directory.
So when you start the app from a random directory, it doesn't work.