PackageCompiler create_library --> ERROR: LoadError: could not find project at "JuliaTest"

General Usage
1

I am new to Julia and I am trying to build a simple DLL using PackageCompiler create_library.

I have a directory JuliaTest which contains the following files:

Project.toml
Manifest.toml
src/JuliaTest.jl

Whenever I run:

using PackageCompiler
create_library("JuliaTest", "JuliaTestDLL", lib_name="JuliaTest")

I get the following error message:

ERROR: could not find project at “JuliaTest”

Project.toml:

name = "JuliaTest"
uuid = "e147a1a5-d6e8-4d14-9d02-dcb123456789"  # You can generate a new UUID using `uuid4()`
authors = ["Julian"]
version = "0.1.0"

[deps]
PackageCompiler = "9b87118b-4619-50d2-8e1e-99f35a4d4d9d"

[compat]
julia = "1.10"  # Specify the version of Julia you're using

Manifest.toml:

project_name = "JuliaTest"
julia_version = "1.10" 
targets = [
    "JuliaTest" => ["JuliaTest.jl"]
]

So it should work as expected, but it does not.

Note:

The pwd() command returns:
"e:\\Projects\\Misc\\JuliaTest"

That’s exactly where Project.toml and Manifest.toml are located.

Do you have any ideas about what is causing this unexpected behaviour?

Full stack trace:

could not find project at "JuliaTest"
Stacktrace:
 [1] error(s::String)
   @ Base .\error.jl:35
 [2] create_pkg_context(project::String)
   @ PackageCompiler e:\packages\julia\packages\PackageCompiler\nT5sD\src\PackageCompiler.jl:71
 [3] create_library(package_or_project::String, dest_dir::String; lib_name::String, precompile_execution_file::Vector{String}, precompile_statements_file::Vector{String}, incremental::Bool, filter_stdlibs::Bool, force::Bool, header_files::Vector{String}, julia_init_c_file::String, julia_init_h_file::String, version::Nothing, compat_level::String, cpu_target::String, include_lazy_artifacts::Bool, sysimage_build_args::Cmd, include_transitive_dependencies::Bool, include_preferences::Bool, script::Nothing, base_sysimage::Nothing)
   @ PackageCompiler e:\packages\julia\packages\PackageCompiler\nT5sD\src\PackageCompiler.jl:1063
 [4] top-level scope
   @ REPL[4]:1
2

Ok, I made some progress:

  1. The correct command is:
create_library(".", "JuliaTest", lib_name="JuliaTest")
  1. Manifest.toml was incorrect, I deleted it and it was re-generated automatically

Now the challenge is to understand why a minimal JuliaTest source file generates a 186MB DLL, plus 350+MB of other dependencies (DLLs).