Fix winapp run/init bugs and WinAppSDK 2.0.1 forward compat by nmetulev · Pull Request #512 · microsoft/winappCli

nmetulev · 2026-04-30T06:44:14Z

Fixes the winapp run Developer Mode required misreport, the winapp init (null) error after git clean, and the WinAppSDK 2.0.1 runtime-dependency test breakage. Splits cleanly so each fix is independently reviewable and bisectable.

Commits

fix(register): improve registration failure error reporting — HRESULT �x80073CFB (ERROR_INSTALL_PACKAGE_ALREADY_EXISTS) was being misreported as a Developer Mode error. Now scopes the dev-mode-error mapping to �x800704EC only, and emits an actionable hint with the real package identity (parsed from the manifest) for �x80073CFB conflicts.
fix(unregister): safe per-package unregistration to prevent data loss — Adds IPackageRegistrationService.UnregisterByFullNameAsync. Rewrites MsixService.UnregisterExistingPackageAsync as a two-pass loop (classify all → then remove individually by FullName). Replaces the prefix StartsWith(cwd) containment check with a segment-aware Path.GetRelativePath-based helper. Fixes two data-loss bugs: per-package safety check bypassed (H1), and sibling-directory misclassification (H2).
fix(status): surface real exception messages instead of (null) — GroupableTask<T>.ExecuteAsync now populates the error tuple's Item2 with ex.Message (stack trace appended only at Debug level). StatusService falls back to "Operation failed without an error message." when CompletedMessage is null/whitespace.
fix(nuget): handle pre-stripped brackets in version range parser — ParseMinimumVersion no longer early-returns when brackets are absent. Fixes a silent breakage that only fires on cache-warm runs (e.g. after git clean of .winapp while the global NuGet cache still has the package), where FetchDirectDependenciesAsync strips brackets before handing a comma-separated range to the parser.
fix(runtime): support WinAppSDK 2.x major-only framework naming — WinAppSDK 2.0.1 dropped the minor version from the framework package name (Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2 instead of Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2.0). Relaxes the runtime MSIX regex, switches the E2E test to invariant assertions (name prefix + MinVersion derived from SDK version), and refreshes the stale electron sample manifest.
chore(docs): regenerate auto-generated docs and command wrappers — scripts/build-cli.ps1 output for upstream description changes.

Tests added

PackageRegistrationServiceTests — 8 tests covering BuildRegistrationException hint variants and IsSideloadPolicyError.
MsixServiceTests — 9 tests for UnregisterExistingPackageAsync (no installs, dev-mode, non-dev in-tree, non-dev out-of-tree throws, sibling-prefix regression, mixed dev+non-dev refusing all to validate H1 fix) plus IsPathInsideDirectory.
GroupableTaskAndStatusErrorTests — 9 tests for tuple-error population, Debug-only stack inclusion, and the StatusService null-message fallback.
NugetServiceTests — 12 DataRow cases for ParseMinimumVersion.

Verification

Solution builds clean at every commit (verified via per-commit checkout + dotnet build).
63/63 related tests pass.
E2E_DotNetApp_PackageShouldIncludeRuntimeDependency (both stable + experimental data rows) now passes — was 1 failed / 1 passed before.
Full suite baseline: 5 pre-existing failures remain, all in node-wrapper E2E tests requiring cd src\winapp-npm; npm run build to produce dist/cli.js (environment-only; not regressions).

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Pull request overview

This PR addresses several CLI reliability and compatibility issues: improved MSIX registration/unregistration behavior and error reporting, fixes NuGet version-range parsing, and updates WinAppSDK runtime dependency detection (including test/doc regeneration) to be forward-compatible with WinAppSDK 2.0.1 naming changes.

Changes:

Refines MSIX registration error mapping/hints and strengthens unregistration safety checks to prevent unintended data loss.
Fixes NuGet minimum-version parsing when version ranges have had brackets/parens pre-stripped.
Relaxes Windows App Runtime MSIX naming matching for WinAppSDK 2.x and updates E2E/sample/docs accordingly.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 16 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/winapp-npm/src/winapp-commands.ts	Regenerated command wrappers / updated init description text from newer schema.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli/Services/StatusService.cs	Adds fallback error text when CompletedMessage is null/whitespace.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli/Services/PackageRegistrationService.cs	Improves registration failure reporting; adds per-fullname uninstall API; adjusts policy error detection.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli/Services/NugetService.cs	Fixes ParseMinimumVersion to handle comma-separated ranges even without brackets.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli/Services/MsixService.Runtime.cs	Updates runtime MSIX filename regex to match WinAppSDK 2.x naming.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli/Services/MsixService.Identity.cs	Makes unregistration safer via two-pass classification + per-package removal; adds segment-aware path containment helper.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli/Services/IPackageRegistrationService.cs	Adds UnregisterByFullNameAsync contract and documentation.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli/ConsoleTasks/GroupableTask.cs	Improves tuple-task error propagation by surfacing exception messages (and stack at Debug).
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli.Tests/PackageRegistrationServiceTests.cs	Adds unit tests for registration exception building and sideload policy error detection.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli.Tests/NugetServiceTests.cs	Adds data-driven tests for ParseMinimumVersion.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli.Tests/MsixServiceTests.cs	Adds tests covering unregister safety rules and IsPathInsideDirectory behavior.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli.Tests/GroupableTaskAndStatusErrorTests.cs	Adds tests ensuring error messages aren’t logged as “(null)” and stack traces are Debug-only.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli.Tests/FakePackageRegistrationService.cs	Extends fake to support UnregisterByFullNameAsync call tracking.
src/winapp-CLI/WinApp.Cli.Tests/EndToEndTests.cs	Updates runtime dependency assertions to be invariant across SDK naming changes.
samples/electron/appxmanifest.xml	Refreshes sample dependency to WinAppRuntime 2.x major-only naming.
docs/npm-usage.md	Regenerates npm usage docs and updates init / utility function descriptions.

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github-actions · 2026-04-30T07:01:09Z

Build Metrics Report

Binary Sizes

Artifact	Baseline	Current	Delta
CLI (ARM64)	30.66 MB	30.67 MB	📈 +10.5 KB (+0.03%)
CLI (x64)	31.03 MB	31.04 MB	📈 +10.0 KB (+0.03%)
MSIX (ARM64)	N/A	12.94 MB	N/A
MSIX (x64)	N/A	13.75 MB	N/A
NPM Package	N/A	26.91 MB	N/A
NuGet Package	N/A	27.00 MB	N/A
VS Code Extension	N/A	19.73 MB	N/A

Test Results

✅ 825 passed, 1 skipped out of 826 tests in 848.1s (+39 tests, +423.7s vs. baseline)

Test Coverage

❌ 21.5% line coverage, 36.7% branch coverage · ✅ no change vs. baseline

CLI Startup Time

34ms median (x64, winapp --version) · ✅ -9ms vs. baseline

Updated 2026-05-01 01:42:55 UTC · commit 2c411c2 · workflow run

…ter/unregister paths Address Copilot reviewer findings on PR #512: - PackageRegistrationService.RegisterLooseLayoutAsync / RegisterSparseAsync: exception filters now also exclude OperationCanceledException so user cancellations aren't wrapped into InvalidOperationException via BuildRegistrationException. - MsixService.UnregisterExistingPackageAsync: explicit catch+rethrow for OperationCanceledException so cancellation isn't silently reported as a normal "no package removed" outcome. Updated the catch-all log text to reflect that failures can occur during removal as well as inspection. - Added clarifying comment at the FindDevPackages call site noting it returns *all* same-name packages (not just dev-mode), which is what the IsDevelopmentMode classification below relies on. - Added regression test ensuring OperationCanceledException from UnregisterByFullNameAsync propagates through UnregisterExistingPackageAsync. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

HRESULT 0x80073CFB (ERROR_INSTALL_PACKAGE_ALREADY_EXISTS) was being misreported as a Developer Mode error, hiding the real cause: a same-identity non-dev-mode package is already installed and blocking re-registration as loose files. Changes: - Rename IsDeveloperModeError -> IsSideloadPolicyError, scoped to 0x800704EC (Group Policy block) only. - Add BuildRegistrationException helper that surfaces the real ErrorText + HRESULT and, for 0x80073CFB conflicts, includes an actionable 'Get-AppxPackage <identity> | Remove-AppxPackage' hint. - Read the package identity name from the manifest in RegisterLooseLayoutAsync / RegisterSparseAsync so the hint embeds the real identity instead of a literal '<PackageName>' placeholder. - Make IsSideloadPolicyError + BuildRegistrationException internal static for direct unit testing. Adds PackageRegistrationServiceTests covering all hint branches. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

MsixService.UnregisterExistingPackageAsync had two data-loss bugs surfaced by the recent auto-recovery code in winapp run: H1 (correctness): the per-package safety loop iterated FindDevPackages but every removal still called the name-based UnregisterAsync(packageName), which removes ALL same-name packages. The first iteration could wipe sibling packages before their safety check ran. H2 (security/correctness): the in-tree containment check used StartsWith(cwd, OrdinalIgnoreCase), so a sibling directory whose path shared a string prefix (e.g. C:\\proj vs C:\\project2) was misclassified as 'inside the project' and silently removed with preserveAppData: false, deleting end-user app data. Changes: - Add IPackageRegistrationService.UnregisterByFullNameAsync(fullName, preserveAppData, ct) and FakePackageRegistrationService impl that records UnregisterByFullNameCalls. - Rewrite UnregisterExistingPackageAsync as a two-pass loop: first classify all installed packages and refuse the entire operation if any non-dev install lives outside the project tree; then remove each by FullName so one iteration cannot wipe packages a later check would reject. - Replace prefix StartsWith with new IsPathInsideDirectory helper that uses Path.GetRelativePath plus rooted/'..' guards. Sibling dirs with shared prefixes are now correctly treated as outside. Adds 9 MsixServiceTests covering: no installs, dev-mode, non-dev in-tree, non-dev out-of-tree throws, sibling-prefix regression, mixed dev+non-dev refusing all (validates H1 fix), and direct IsPathInsideDirectory checks. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

When a GroupableTask<T>-wrapped operation threw, two bugs combined to render the user-visible error as '[ERROR] - (null)': 1. GroupableTask<T>.ExecuteAsync only Debug.WriteLine'd the exception. For T = (int, string) it set Item1 = 1 but left Item2 = default (null). 2. StatusService then logged that null via 'logger.LogError(\"{CompletedMessage}\", null)', which FormattedLogValues renders as the literal string '(null)'. Changes: - GroupableTask<T> now populates Item2 with ex.Message (or the exception type name when blank), and appends the stack trace only when the logger has Debug enabled. - StatusService null-guards CompletedMessage and falls back to 'Operation failed without an error message.' when Item2 is null/whitespace. Adds GroupableTaskAndStatusErrorTests with 9 cases covering message surfacing, type-name fallback, Debug-only stack inclusion, success-path passthrough, null/whitespace fallback, and verbose-hint suppression at Debug level. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

ParseMinimumVersion had an early-return for 'no brackets present' that returned the input verbatim. This broke when FetchDirectDependenciesAsync fed it a version range from the HTTP NuGet feed: that code path strips brackets up-front via BracketsAndParenthesesRegex but leaves commas intact, so a multi-version range like '2.0.300, 3.0.0' was returned unchanged and later failed NuGet version parsing as the literal string '2.0.300, 3.0.0'. Two install paths exist with different bracket handling: - InstallPackageRecursiveAsync reads ranges from local nuspecs (brackets intact) -> ParseMinimumVersion's bracket branch handled it correctly. - GetPackageDependenciesAsync uses the HTTP fetcher (brackets pre-stripped) -> hit the buggy no-bracket early return. This is why the bug only fired on cache-validate runs (e.g. after git clean of .winapp but with the global NuGet cache still warm) and not on a from-scratch first install. Fix: split on ',' unconditionally and take the lowest minimum, regardless of whether brackets were present. Adds 12 NugetServiceTests DataRow cases covering single versions, exclusive and inclusive ranges, comma-separated lists with and without brackets, prerelease versions, and whitespace handling. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

WinAppSDK 2.0.1 stable changed the framework package naming convention: the minor version was dropped from the runtime identity. The package name in MSIX.inventory is now 'Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2' instead of 'Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2.0'. Naming convention table: - 1.x stable / per-minor SxS: Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.1.8 - 2.x stable / major-only (2.0.1+): Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2 - 2.x experimental: Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2-experimentalN Two things broke: 1. WindowsAppRuntimeMsixRegex required two dotted numeric segments (\d+\.\d+) so 'Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2.msix' did not match. This is only a latent bug because it sits in the inventory-parse fallback path (the fallback ?? msixFiles[0] currently happens to pick the right file by alphabetical order), but it could silently pick a DDLM/Singleton/Main variant if file ordering ever shifted. 2. EndToEndTests.E2E_DotNetApp_PackageShouldIncludeRuntimeDependency reconstructed the full expected name as 'Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.{major}.{minor}' for stable releases, so it asserted 'Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2.0' against an actual manifest containing 'Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.2'. Changes: - Relax the regex to '\d+(\.\d+)?' so single-segment 2.x and any hypothetical future shape (2.0.2, 2.1.0 either-way, 3.0) all match. - Drop the test's full-name reconstruction in favour of two invariants: PackageDependency name starts with Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.{major}, and MinVersion starts with the SDK version's leading three components. This survives any future SDK naming changes since the CLI itself faithfully propagates whatever name MSIX.inventory ships with. - Refresh samples/electron/appxmanifest.xml from the stale pre-2.0 experimental placeholder to a current 2.0.1 reference. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Run via scripts/build-cli.ps1. Picks up unrelated upstream description changes for 'init' and 'addMsixIdentityToExe' that hadn't been regenerated yet (init mentions --setup-sdks none; addMsixIdentityToExe references appxmanifest.xml instead of Package.appxmanifest), and bumps the source schema version stamp from 0.2.2 to 0.3.1. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

…p package (#496) When multiple `.exe` files exist in the build output (e.g. `createdump.exe` alongside the actual app), the identity registration path (`winapp run`) picked the first one alphabetically — often `createdump.exe` — causing the app to crash on launch. **Root cause:** `MsixService.Identity.cs` had its own exe detection logic using `EnumerateFiles` with `AllDirectories`, bypassing the filtering used by `winapp package`. **Changes:** - Filter known .NET runtime tools (`createdump.exe`, `apphost.exe`) via a shared `IsRuntimeToolExecutable()` helper. - Reuse `ResolveManifestPlaceholders` in the identity path so `winapp run` and `winapp package` share the same exe detection, filtering, and error handling. - Add `--executable` / `--exe` option to `winapp run` (mirrors `winapp package`) so users can disambiguate when the build output legitimately contains multiple exes. - Restore an explicit "executable not found in output directory" error in the identity path. - Add regression tests for the createdump / apphost filtering cases. --------- Co-authored-by: Nikola Metulev <711864+nmetulev@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Zach Teutsch <88554871+zateutsch@users.noreply.github.com>

…ter/unregister paths Address Copilot reviewer findings on PR #512: - PackageRegistrationService.RegisterLooseLayoutAsync / RegisterSparseAsync: exception filters now also exclude OperationCanceledException so user cancellations aren't wrapped into InvalidOperationException via BuildRegistrationException. - MsixService.UnregisterExistingPackageAsync: explicit catch+rethrow for OperationCanceledException so cancellation isn't silently reported as a normal "no package removed" outcome. Updated the catch-all log text to reflect that failures can occur during removal as well as inspection. - Added clarifying comment at the FindDevPackages call site noting it returns *all* same-name packages (not just dev-mode), which is what the IsDevelopmentMode classification below relies on. - Added regression test ensuring OperationCanceledException from UnregisterByFullNameAsync propagates through UnregisterExistingPackageAsync. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 30, 2026 06:44

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of nmetulev April 30, 2026 06:44 View session

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chiaramooney approved these changes May 1, 2026

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nmetulev force-pushed the nm/fix-winapp-run-init-bugs branch from a11c2f9 to 51c0d54 Compare May 1, 2026 01:11

nmetulev and others added 9 commits April 30, 2026 18:11

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nmetulev force-pushed the nm/fix-winapp-run-init-bugs branch from 51c0d54 to 936cedd Compare May 1, 2026 01:11

Merge branch 'main' into nm/fix-winapp-run-init-bugs

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nmetulev enabled auto-merge (squash) May 1, 2026 01:16

nmetulev disabled auto-merge May 1, 2026 04:18

chiaramooney approved these changes May 1, 2026

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nmetulev merged commit 3593c25 into main May 1, 2026
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nmetulev deleted the nm/fix-winapp-run-init-bugs branch May 1, 2026 16:43

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Fix winapp run/init bugs and WinAppSDK 2.0.1 forward compat#512

Fix winapp run/init bugs and WinAppSDK 2.0.1 forward compat#512
nmetulev merged 10 commits intomainfrom
nm/fix-winapp-run-init-bugs

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