Fsharp: The last Visual Studio 16.3.2 hangs by switching solution configuration

[AndreiDegtiarev]

Solution contains c# and f# projects, netcore and netframework configurations. The switch from Debug to Release configuration cause endless operation with message box title “Microsoft Visual F# Tools” and with content “Updating solution configuration…”

• Operating System
  Windows 10

• Editing Tools: Visual Studio 16.3.2

[cartermp]

Relevant routine is here: https://github.com/dotnet/fsharp/blob/f50d9c4f2131eac75738fd4c381a1f658cf12db6/vsintegration/src/FSharp.ProjectSystem.FSharp/Project.fs#L1702-L1724

We haven't touched the legacy F# project system in a very long time, so this isn't a new change on our end.

@panopticoncentral @tmeschter were there any changes in the VS base project system that could affect this?

[tmeschter]

Unfortunately I don't know how the legacy F# project system relate to the C#/VB systems and their underlying pieces.

Is this a regression from 16.2?

[cartermp]

@AndreiDegtiarev would be good to know if this is indeed a regression from 16.0.

@tmeschter the legacy F# project system uses MPF underneath, but beyond that I don't know how it truly works with VS. There was an issue in the past where a VSLangProj change broke parallel builds - (possibly resurfaced in F# atop CPS in #7683) - but how that bubbles up to the F# legacy system is a bit of a mystery to me. @KevinRansom may know more.

[AndreiDegtiarev]

Beginning from 16.3.2 (very last update) I’m not able any more to switch solution configuration from Debug to Release on two different machines. Cleaning, reboot don’t help. It is interesting that I have different debug and release configurations, the switch between debug configurations (netcore to framework) works without problems. In the previous Visual Studio updates there were already indications that something is going wrong but the reload of solution in previous versions did help

[panopticoncentral]

There's nothing that I know of that's happened in the servicing updates, but there are other possibilities. @AndreiDegtiarev do you have a repro scenario we could try out? Barring that, could you take a full process dump (using something like https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procdump) and attach it to a "Report a problem" in VS and then let us know?

[AndreiDegtiarev]

@panopticoncentral Unfortunately, I don’t have a repo which I can share. We could make Skype conference where I can demonstrate my problem

[jmecosta]

i also have the same problem

[AndreiDegtiarev]

Thank you jmecosta, now I feel much better about myself because I’m not alone in this world with my problem :-)

[panopticoncentral]

@AndreiDegtiarev @jmecosta Can you report a problem and then note it here? That will capture data we can use to start figuring out what's wrong.

[AndreiDegtiarev]

Problem was reported. https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/766725/the-last-visual-studio-1632-hangs-by-switching-sol.html

[jmecosta]

@panopticoncentral been there, done that

its still in "triage" whatever that means... meanwhile we get the pain

[panopticoncentral]

@AndreiDegtiarev You can ignore the "Need more info" status of your problem, it looks like there were some crossed wired, I'm looking at the dump to see if I can figure out what's going wrong.

@jmecosta The "triage" status means that it's waiting for the team to look at it to determine its priority and who should look at it. I'll email the team and see if they can get it triaged soon.

[jmecosta]

darn, i cant release my application because i cant change the configuration to release. as a workaround, manually modified sln file, deleted all AnyCpu, x86, Debug stuff. so now i have one solution file for debug and a solution for release! of course to jump between to two, need to delete .vs folder and start over
hopefully you guys can fix this

[abelbraaksma]

Is this a regression from 16.2?

@AndreiDegtiarev, @tmeschter, I also have a very large configuration with 8 solution configurations, mixed F#, C# and C++, but in 16.3.1 I don't encounter this situation. I have not updated to 16.3.2 yet because of this report, but I did notice something else: NCrunch (an addin) hangs sometimes on switching configurations. Just to say: did you try it with a /SafeMode switch to be sure there's not extension in the way?

@jmecosta, as an alternative for the workaround you mention, you could try these to ease the pain a bit:

• Run devenv your.sln /Build Debug or devenv your.sln /Build "Debug|x86", see [/Build`](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/reference/build-devenv-exe?view=vs-2019) switch for more info. This will at least allow you to release
• Alternatively, use MSBuild for building the solution
• Something that may or may not help with the issue, is upgrading all files, incl sln files, to the new Visual Studio version (though it's a long shot). You can do this automatically with devenv /Upgrade
• You can install multiple instances of Visual Studio, so you could install a new instance with a lower version. For the same reason I still have 15.9.x versions around if I get stuck, and both a 16.2.0 and a 16.3.1

Perhaps some things to try with your current situation:

• Try, before you switch solutions, to close all editors
• Try, before you switch solutions, to unload the prj files, this may lead to a specific project file that causes this behavior
• Perhaps there's a difference between switching from the toolbar (no popup) or switching from the configuration popup? Or doesn't the method matter and all ways lead to lockups?

Editing Tools: Visual Studio 16.3.2

There's a 16.3.4 out, you might also try upgrading.

[jmecosta]

16.3.4 has the same problem (i did see the release notes, no mentions about locks).. im pretty sure this started in 16.3.2

not sure if this helps

the devenv.exe /Build works ok, thanks for the hint

my box, does not contain any added extensions besides what comes by default.

/SafeMode caused all projects to require migration. And F# projects fail to migrate entirely. So not touching that again :)

[AndreiDegtiarev]

I can confirm that the problem has started with 16.3.2 and 16.3.4 has the problem as well.

[dsyme]

I get this problem switching configurations in VisualFSharp.sln

I'm using 16.3.0 Preview 4.0

[dsyme]

@panopticoncentral This is a severe problem I think. Makes VS unusable. I assume it only hits solutions containing legacy projects but still, that's a huge proportion of projects

[panopticoncentral]

@dsyme VisualFSharp.sln doesn't have any legacy projects as far as I saw, does it? Can you make a report and then send me a link? For both @dsyme and @AndreiDegtiarev, do you see any activity in MSBuild worker processes?

[abelbraaksma]

I'm using 16.3.0 Preview 4.0

Interesting, as I'm using 16.3.1 (professional rtm, not preview) and don't have this problem on mixed legacy projects, which would put this bug earlier. @dsyme, how are you or others usually switching? Through config manager, or direct access drop down on toolbar (no popup)?

[AndreiDegtiarev]

@panopticoncentral I don't see any activities in MSBuild process, I closed all open documents, I killed all child VS processes, but nothing helped

[panopticoncentral]

This appears to be the issue addressed here. It is currently scheduled to be fixed in the next minor release (16.4) but we're looking at servicing it in the current minor release (16.3.x). You can follow it's progress there.

[cartermp]

@dsyme I'm not sure how to reproduce this with VisualFSharp.sln. I switched configurations from Debug to Release and VS doesn't have with the 16.3.5 update and latest master.

[cartermp]

As per @panopticoncentral's comment I'll close this.

[AndreiDegtiarev]

Unfortunately, version 16.3.5 didn’t solve my problem. I've waited for about 15 minutes but the result is the same: VS hangs

[cartermp]

@AndreiDegtiarev As per the linked issue, the fix is scheduled for 16.4 and _may_ be serviced into the 16.3.x release.

[panopticoncentral]

For some reason the item I linked to says it is fixed in the current release, which is wrong. It's not going to be fixed until 16.4 at the moment. You can verify this in the current VS preview.

[abelbraaksma]

@AndreiDegtiarev I'm not sure it's already in the current download, see @panopticoncentral comment of 44 min ago, at which moment it wasn't, which is hardly enough time to get it out. But I can be wrong ;)

Edit: as others said :)

[AndreiDegtiarev]

@panopticoncentral Thank you for the solution of this problem! One question more. VS 16.4 will be released together with .net core 3.1 and .net core 3.1 is planned for December 2019. So, the solution of actual problem will be not released earlier as in about two months, is this correct?

[abelbraaksma]

@AndreiDegtiarev, here's a quote from an earlier post, looks like they'll try to release it sooner:

but we're looking at servicing it in the current minor release

[abelbraaksma]

Hmm, yesterday 16.3.6 came out and I hoped the fix would be part of this. While they updated the issue to the correct status (it is now _Solved - pending release_), it doesn't seem to have made it in this release...

See https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/748449/vs2019-1630-hang-when-closing-or-change-solution-c.html

[jmecosta]

at least its consistent with release notes of 16.3.6, not release yet :(

[AndreiDegtiarev]

The last statement from @panopticoncentral was

It's not going to be fixed until 16.4 at the moment.

So it seems that before December we will not get solution, I hope that I'm wrong

[AndreiDegtiarev]

Workaround suggested here: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/comments/794272/view.html by Nicholas Poh has solved my problem and the fix will be released in the next VS update v16.3.7

[jmecosta]

doesnt lock

[jmecosta]

Fixed in latest 16.3 for me