PlatformNotSupportedException when running Mage in Nano Server

[mthalman]

When attempting to run dotnet mage in a Windows Nano Server container, I get the following error:

Unhandled exception. System.PlatformNotSupportedException: The system does not support the STA thread apartment.

Repro steps using a Dockerfile:

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:6.0-nanoserver-1809

RUN dotnet tool install -g Microsoft.DotNet.Mage
USER ContainerAdministrator
RUN setx /M PATH "%PATH%;C:\Users\ContainerUser\.dotnet\tools"
USER ContainerUser

RUN dotnet mage

C:\> docker build .
Sending build context to Docker daemon  397.3kB
Step 1/6 : FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:6.0-nanoserver-1809
 ---> f39bade63efb
Step 2/6 : RUN dotnet tool install -g Microsoft.DotNet.Mage
 ---> Running in 89b85a1c96dc
Tools directory 'C:\Users\ContainerUser\.dotnet\tools' is not currently on the PATH environment variable.

You can add the directory to the PATH by running the following command:

setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\Users\ContainerUser\.dotnet\tools"

You can invoke the tool using the following command: dotnet-mage
Tool 'microsoft.dotnet.mage' (version '6.0.1') was successfully installed.
Removing intermediate container 89b85a1c96dc
 ---> bab0558ccbcc
Step 3/6 : USER ContainerAdministrator
 ---> Running in 6518834e2c22
Removing intermediate container 6518834e2c22
 ---> a56467f01626
Step 4/6 : RUN setx /M PATH "%PATH%;C:\Users\ContainerUser\.dotnet\tools"
 ---> Running in 15eea996c79e

SUCCESS: Specified value was saved.
Removing intermediate container 15eea996c79e
 ---> 0dea20a3d3a0
Step 5/6 : USER ContainerUser
 ---> Running in 1ee97a3a81ab
Removing intermediate container 1ee97a3a81ab
 ---> 9270aa52c7e8
Step 6/6 : RUN dotnet mage
 ---> Running in 480e4fe8d91a
Unhandled exception. System.PlatformNotSupportedException: The system does not support the STA thread apartment.
The command 'cmd /S /C dotnet mage' returned a non-zero code: 3762504530

This occurs because Nano Server doesn't support single threaded apartments.

A similar issue had occurred with F# Interactive. See their solution for reference: dotnet/fsharp#10122

[xinfli]

The root cause is nano server does not support STA, but dotnet-mage is set as STAThread: https://github.com/dotnet/deployment-tools/blob/main/src/clickonce/MageCLI/Application.cs

Is it possible to fix this problem? we need a container to sign a ClickOnce application, now we have to build the signer image with server core and got a image in 6GB...

[NikolaMilosavljevic]

The root cause is nano server does not support STA, but dotnet-mage is set as STAThread: https://github.com/dotnet/deployment-tools/blob/main/src/clickonce/MageCLI/Application.cs

Is it possible to fix this problem? we need a container to sign a ClickOnce application, now we have to build the signer image with server core and got a image in 6GB...

Windows Nano Server does not include .NET Framework. dotnet-mage uses parts of ClickOnce runtime, that ships with .NET Framework, for signing of ClickOnce applications. At the moment it is not possible to sign ClickOnce applications on machines without .NET Framework being present, as well.

[NikolaMilosavljevic]

This is by design.