VS 2017 Release 15.5.1 - Project Reference to Syst

Question

I understand the code that you see below is not perfect, but it is the actual representation of the state of code I am helping maintain. My question isn't in regards to the right way to structure this code, it is why did this code work in previous versions of VS 2017 (like 2 weeks ago) and why it does not now. I am trying to determine if this issue is a bug with VS that will be addressed OR if this needs to be addressed in our code base.

This project has proper references in VS 2017 release 15.4.5 (as well as VS 2015), but not in VS 2017 15.5.1 or 15.5.2.

This sample solution to show the issue has only one project. Below is the project file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="4.0">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
    <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <OldToolsVersion>3.5</OldToolsVersion>
    <IsWebBootstrapper>true</IsWebBootstrapper>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.6</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <Install>true</Install>
    <InstallFrom>Web</InstallFrom>
    <UpdateEnabled>true</UpdateEnabled>
    <UpdateMode>Foreground</UpdateMode>
    <UpdateInterval>7</UpdateInterval>
    <UpdateIntervalUnits>Days</UpdateIntervalUnits>
    <UpdatePeriodically>false</UpdatePeriodically>
    <UpdateRequired>false</UpdateRequired>
    <MapFileExtensions>true</MapFileExtensions>
    <ApplicationRevision>0</ApplicationRevision>
    <ApplicationVersion>1.0.0.%2a</ApplicationVersion>
    <UseApplicationTrust>false</UseApplicationTrust>
    <BootstrapperEnabled>true</BootstrapperEnabled>
    <ProjectGuid>{B3FE0477-3F25-4D78-9618-2DD0889C0194}</ProjectGuid>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Debug\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
    <TreatWarningsAsErrors>true</TreatWarningsAsErrors>
    <CodeAnalysisRuleSet>AllRules.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet>
    <Prefer32Bit>false</Prefer32Bit>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Client.3.5">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 Client Profile</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.2.0">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 2.0 %28x86%29</ProductName>
      <Install>true</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.0">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.0 %28x86%29</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5.SP1">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5 SP1</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Compile Include="Class1.cs" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="System.Net.Http">
      <HintPath>..\..\packages\System.Net.Http.2.0.20126.16343\lib\net40\System.Net.Http.dll</HintPath>
      <Private>True</Private>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System.Net.Http.WebRequest">
      <HintPath>..\..\packages\System.Net.Http.2.0.20126.16343\lib\net40\System.Net.Http.WebRequest.dll</HintPath>
      <Private>True</Private>
    </Reference>
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="packages.config" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
</Project>

The project only contains one class:

using System.Net.Http;

namespace Reference_Issue
{
    public class Class1
    {
        private HttpRequestMessage test;
        public Class1()
        {
            test = new HttpRequestMessage();
        }
    }
}

and the package.config

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
  <package id="System.Net.Http" version="2.0.20126.16343" targetFramework="net45" />
</packages>

Answer 1

I believe this corresponds to this bug in 15.5: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/161697/vs2017-v155-ignoring-nuget-package-microsoftnethtt.html