Publish Profile App_Data recursive inclusion and deletion behavior

Question

Web Publish File Management
Visual Studio publish profiles provide options to manage the target directory state and specific folder inclusions. When the Delete all existing files prior to publish option is enabled, the MSBuild process is intended to purge the destination before copying new assets.

Concurrent with this, the Include all files in the App_Data folder setting is used to ensure application data is migrated to the remote server. However, there is uncertainty regarding how these two settings interact when the App_Data folder contains a nested directory structure.

It is unclear if the deletion policy recursively removes all sub-directories within App_Data before the inclusion policy triggers a recursive copy of the same nested files. Current logs at the Information level do not explicitly distinguish between files skipped by the include set and files removed by the purge operation.

Does the Delete all existing files setting recursively purge nested sub-folders within App_Data?
  Is the Include all files in the App_Data folder operation recursive for all nested levels, or limited to the top-level directory?

Tasadduq Burney · Answer

Answer When you enable Delete all existing files prior to publish, the MSDeploy engine performs a full, recursive delete of the target folder. That includes every sub‑directory and file under App_Data. After the purge, the Include all files in the App_Data folder option copies the entire App_Data tree back to the destination, again recursively. In short: Delete option = recursive purge of the entire target. Include option = recursive copy of App_Data (all levels). Practical Verification Steps Enable verbose logging in the publish profile: Verbose Run the publish (e.g., dotnet publish -c Release -o publish or via VS). The log will contain lines like: Delete: /site/wwwroot/App_Data/SubFolder Delete: /site/wwwroot/App_Data/SubFolder/file.txt Copy: /site/wwwroot/App_Data/SubFolder/file.txt After the publish completes, inspect the target directory to confirm that: All App_Data subfolders and files exist and match the source. No other files outside the project’s folders remain unless explicitly excluded. To test the incremental behavior, publish again with the delete option turned off. Only new or changed files under App_Data should be added, while existing ones are preserved. Things That Can Alter the Default Behavior Custom MSDeploy parameters, such as Skip or ExcludeFromPackageFiles, can prevent certain subfolders from being deleted or copied. Pre‑ or post‑publish scripts that manipulate files after the delete step may leave orphaned files. Missing Diagnostic Detail Do you have any custom MSDeploy parameters or publish scripts that might modify the delete or include steps? That could change the outcome described above.

Publish Profile App_Data recursive inclusion and deletion behavior

Web Publish File Management

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Answer

Practical Verification Steps

Things That Can Alter the Default Behavior

Missing Diagnostic Detail

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