Inside the Microsoft® Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build

Packaging and Deployment

Deploying Source Code with the Binaries

There are two main ways to deploy additional files to the drop location with the build’s other outputs (such as binaries, build logs, and test results). The first is to copy the files to the BinariesRoot directory at any point in the build process before the drop phase, and the other is to copy the files directly to the drop location once the build has been dropped.

The most important consideration when deploying the source code is the point in the process at which you copy the source code. The reasons for this are:

• If you copy the source code too early, then any modifications you make to the source code with the build process (such as updating AssemblyInfo files with version numbers) ...