PowerShell/docs/building/internals.md

Internals of build process
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The purpose of this document is to explain build process **internals** with subtle nuances.
This document is not by any means complete.
The ultimate source of truth is the code in `.\build.psm1` that's getting executed on the corresponding CI system.

This document assumes that you can successfully build PowerShell from sources for your platform.


Top directory
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We are calling `dotnet` tool build for `$Top` directory

- `src\powershell-win-core` for CoreCLR on Windows.
- `src\powershell-unix` for CoreCLR on Linux and macOS.
- `src\powershell-win-full` for FullCLR builds (Windows only)

### Dummy dependencies

We use dummy dependencies between project.json files to leverage `dotnet` build functionality.
For example, `src\powershell-win-core\project.json` has dependency on `Microsoft.PowerShell.PSReadLine`,
but in reality, there is no build dependency.

Dummy dependencies allows us to build just `$Top` folder, instead of building several folders.

### Dummy dependencies rules

* If assembly is part of FullCLR build,
it should be listed as a dependency for FullCLR $Top folder (src\powershell-win-full)

* If assembly is part of CoreCLR build,
it should be listed as a dependency for $Top folder (src\powershell-unix or src\powershell-win-core)