dotnet/roslyn

Investigate improving diagnostic for missing metadata references

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#4,676 opened on Aug 20, 2015

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Area-CompilersBugConcept-Diagnostic Clarityhelp wanted

Description

In the fix to (TFS/DevDiv) bug 1090472 there was a slight degradation in the quality of the diagnostics for symbols missing due to missing metadata references for the test BadSymbolReferences.MissingTypes1. Before the change the required assembly reference was given in the diagnostic. After the change it does not suggest the required assembly.

Investigate the cause of the degradation and see if the quality of the diagnostic can be restored.

(Migrated from TFS/DevDiv 1091957)

Contributor guide

Tech stack
csharp
Domain
tooling
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
4
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
over 1 week
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
needs investigation
Prerequisites
C# languageRoslyn compiler internals
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
10
Research direction
Investigate the regression in diagnostic quality for missing metadata references, specifically for the test `BadSymbolReferences.MissingTypes1` introduced by the fix to bug 1090472. Examine the changes in how required assembly references are reported, focusing on the symbol resolution and error reporting code in Roslyn's binding layer. Look for comments or changes in the relevant source files (likely under `src/Compilers/CSharp/Portable/Binder/`) to identify how the diagnostic suggestion was lost. The goal is to restore the diagnostic to suggest the required assembly.