AssemblyInfo version information asterisks

It says in AssemblyInfo.cs for C# projects that it's possible to specify version information with *

// Version information for an assembly consists of the following four values:
//
//      Major Version
//      Minor Version 
//      Build Number
//      Revision
//
// You can specify all the values or you can default the Revision and Build Numbers 
// by using the '*' as shown below:
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.0")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.0.0.0")]

I changed it to this:

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*.*")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.0.*.*")]

and this is the error I get from the compiler:

error CS0647: Error emitting 'System.Reflection.AssemblyVersionAttribute' attribute -- 'The version specified '1.0.*.*' is invalid'
warning CS1607: Assembly generation -- The version '1.0.*.*' specified for the 'file version' is not in the normal 'major.minor.build.revision' format

How does (does it even?) it work?

Syntax (see MSDN) for "automatic" build number can be:

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.*")]

or:

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")]

* means after this everything is automatic. You can't have automatic build number and fixed revision number then this syntax isn't correct:

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*.0")]

For the AssemblyFileVersionAttribute you cannot use the * special character so you have to provide a full and valid version number. Please note that if you do not provide an AssemblyFileVersionAttribute then you'll get the right FileVersionInfo automatically (with the same version of AssemblyVersionAttribute). You need to specify that attribute only if you need to set a different version.

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")] 
//[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.0.*")] 

just remember to comment the AssemblyFileVersion line, otherwise the automatically generated assembly version will always be "1.0.0.0".

So why does the supplied comment say

// You can specify all the values or you can default the Build and Revision Numbers
// by using the '*' as shown below:
// [assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")]
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.0.0.0")]

but builds generate CS8357? Somebody didn't get the memo.

Work around:

 1. Close all open documents
 2. In the Solution Explorer, right-click the Project and select Unload Project
 3. In the Solution Explorer, right-click the Project (now marked as unavailable) and select Edit to access the `.CSPROJ` file
 4. In the opened window, find `<Deterministic>true</Deterministic>` and change it to `<Deterministic>false</Deterministic>`
 5. Save the file and ensure that the edit window is closed
 6. In the Solution Explorer, right-click the Project and select Reload Project

Your build (should then) work. :)