Powershell: Export-CliXml - issue with $PSVersionTable xml tag when importing CliXml to psobject .

[MaximoTrinidad]

Ok! Heard me out. While I was playing around with PowerShell Studio to create a form to display results coming from $PSversionTable in PSCore6 psobjects exported to clixml to then import to a psobject in Windows PowerShell.

I found out the Import-CliXml will error out in Windows PowerShell with the following message:

Import-Clixml : SemanticVersion XML tag is not recognized. Line 81, position 8.
At line:1 char:10
+ $psobj = Import-Clixml -Path c:\Temp\pwshobject602.xml;
+          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Import-Clixml], XmlException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Xml.XmlException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportClixmlCommand

Of course, this is not a Windows PowerShell issue as the workaround below works.

WorkAround

Via code I had to fix the xml tag;

:
 $line.Replace('SemanticVersion', 'Version');
:

After fixing the xml tag then my application works. This only happens with the $PSVersionTable.

Steps to reproduce

## - Execute in PSCore 6.0.2:
(Get-Variable PSVersionTable).value.GetEnumerator()| Export-Clixml -Path c:\Temp\pwshobject602.xml;

## - Execute in Windows PowerShell:
$psobj = Import-Clixml  -Path c:\Temp\pwshobject602.xml;
Import-Clixml : SemanticVersion XML tag is not recognized. Line 81, position 8.
At line:1 char:10
+ $psobj = Import-Clixml -Path c:\Temp\pwshobject602.xml;
+          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Import-Clixml], XmlException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Xml.XmlException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportClixmlCommand

Expected behavior

To import the CliXml to a PSobject without any error.

Actual behavior

Error: "Import-Clixml : SemanticVersion XML tag is not recognized. Line 81, position 8."

Environment data

## - PSCore6:
PS [156] > $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      6.0.2
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    v6.0.2
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.17127
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

[markekraus]

A related discussion came up in the last community call. The Version in PowerShell Core is a System.Management.Automation.SemanticVersion, but that type does not exist on Windows PowerShell.

[MaximoTrinidad]

@markekraus,

Hum! Interesting. Still I don't understand the reason for not leave it with "version" instead for "semanticversion". This way it will keep it consistent with other version.

Anyway, it was just an observation, as replacing the xml tag works as a workaround.
:)

[SteveL-MSFT]

@MaximoTrinidad the workaround only works in the case there isn't a label after the version (like 6.1.0-Preview1). I suppose if it's needed we could add a -PowerShellVersion type parameter to format SemanticVersion to Version and chop off the label if present.

[MaximoTrinidad]

Thanks @SteveL-MSFT!

[daxian-dbw]

SemanticVersion also affects remoting from windows powershell to a powershell core endpoint; related issue: #1819
We should bring SemanticVersion to windows powershell to solve the root problem.

[SteveL-MSFT]

@PowerShell/powershell-committee reviewed this and although a breaking change, we recommend having PSVersion be of type System.Version and add a PSSemanticVersion string to have the SemanticVersion. Because this is a behavioral and breaking change, @JamesWTruher will author a small RFC to cover this.

Update (@iSazonov): See new conclusion in #7016.