Packing NuGet projects compiled in release mode?

Is there some way to make a NuGet package using code compiled in release mode? Or is there some reason I should only publish (make available locally, in this case) packages compiled in debug mode?

Every time I call nuget pack from my project directory, where I have the nuspec file below, on code I have only compiled in release mode, it complains about not finding the DLL in the debug folder ("\bin\Debug\SomeProject.dll"). If I compile it in debug mode, those files are there and it packs them up as it should.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2010/07/nuspec.xsd">
    <metadata>
        <id>$id$</id>
        <version>$version$</version>
        <authors>$author$</authors>
        <owners>$author$</owners>
        <iconUrl>http://somewhere/project.png</iconUrl>
        <requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
        <description>$description$</description>
    </metadata>
</package>

Solution 1:

You can solve it like this:

NuGet.exe pack Foo.csproj -Prop Configuration=Release

(reference)

Solution 2:

If you are using a post-build event and you want to create a package whether using Debug or Release configuration you can setup the post-build event commandline like so:

"<path to nuget tools>\NuGet.exe" pack "$(ProjectPath)" -Prop Configuration=$(ConfigurationName)

Solution 3:

To have NuGet automatically use Release mode when you run nuget pack, do the following:

1. Open your .csproj file in a text editor.

2. Find the following line:

   <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
   

3. In this line, replace Debug with Release.
4. Save changes.

Solution 4:

The answers here are good, but I was having a lot of problems with this for a .NET Standard project. I had a project that was only going to publish Release binaries, but it wasn't respecting my default build output path.

I added this to my CSProj which then enabled me to use the accepted answer here.

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">
      <OutputPath>$(SolutionDir)bin\$(PlatformTarget)\Release</OutputPath>
</PropertyGroup>