TFS Team build database build fails intermittently with missing dbschema reference TSD01236

I have a team build that is building a database project. The build has been failing intermittently for a while. Several of the projects build successfully but the "main" project in the solution fails to build because of this error

""D:\Builds\13\TeamProjectName\my_build_name\Sources\my.project.name\master.dbschema : Build error TSD01236: Failed to load D:\BUILDS\13\TeamProjectName\my_build_name\SOURCES\my.project.name\MASTER.DBSCHEMA. [D:\Builds\13\TeamProjectName\my_build_name\Sources\my.project.name\my.project.name.dbproj]""

(names changed to protect the innocent)

This looks like the file is not there, but it is included as a file in the database project and I have enough logging turned on so I can see the "get" for that file. I have verified by remoting to the build machine that the dbschema file IS there.

Rerunning the build always fixes it开发者_高级运维; remoting to the machine and running msbuild on the solution always works; remoting in and loading the database solution in Vs.net and rebuilding always works. Developers working with the solution never see this error.

Googling on that error code hasn't helped much, as with MSBuild I can't see the command line that is being send to the vsdbcmd (i don't even know if that is being used, msbuild may access it in another way).

We are running tfs 2010 but the build is running the "upgrade" template and is executing a hand written build file that executes the database build and then some other vital stuff. Changing all that to the new build template will probably be unpopular unless there is good reason to think it will be a low amount of work as this is a minor niggle.

my solutions are guesses as I can't repro the issue repeatably:

1. wait, see if enough fails show a pattern. I suspect something to do with how the build is triggered, it is on a timer, not doing CI. manual triggers seem not to fail.
2. change the builds to "rebuild" and hope that flushes something out
3. change the referencing solution as at this msdn
4. (wild guess) change the build templates to 2010 and/or rewrite the whole thing to work using a different method.