error while building project using Nant

Question

I have file pro.build:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<project name="NAnt.NUnit2ReportTasks" default="build" basedir=".">
  <sysinfo />
  <target name="nunitreport">
    <nunit2report out="HTML_TestResults.html">
      <fileset>
        <includes name="NUnitTestResult.xml" />
      </fileset>
    </nunit2report>
    <echo message="HTML Test report generated." />
  </target>
</project>

From command prompt(DOS), I am giving command,

Nant -buildfile:pro.build

But I am getting error

Target 'build' does not exist in this project

Can you help me resolving this?

Answer 1

With <project>'s default attribute you specify the target which should be executed if no other target is specified on the command line.

Problem: On the command line you're calling Nant -buildfile:pro.build so you are not specifying a target there. NAnt tries to execute default target build which is not present and fails.

Solution: Either you specify target nunitreport on the command line by calling Nant -buildfile:pro.build nunitreport. But since specifying a non-existent default target in your build file doesn't make much sense, I would suggest changing the default target:

<project name="NAnt.NUnit2ReportTasks" default="nunitreport" basedir=".">
  <!-- ... -->
</project>

Answer 2

Specifing complete path for the buildfile could resolve the issue

nant –buildfile:"c:\FolderpathofAppdotbuildfileGoesHere\buildfilename.build"