ExpressionBuilder.ConvertField prints the C# 14 "field" keyword based on the
FieldKeyword setting alone, but PatternStatementTransform only entered the
property transform when AutomaticProperties was on. With FieldKeyword on and
AutomaticProperties off the backing-field declaration was therefore never
removed, and the output declared the backing field next to accessors already
written in terms of "field".
That output still compiles, which is what makes it dangerous: the keyword binds
to a second, freshly synthesized backing field while the declared one stays
unwritten, so the recompiled assembly has different storage than the input.
Only a CS0169 "field is never used" warning hints at it.
AutomaticProperties governs only whether trivial accessors collapse to
"get;"/"set;"; the declaration removal inside the transform is a separate step
that FieldKeyword alone is enough to justify. The entry gate now mirrors
CSharpDecompiler.MemberIsHidden, which already made the field's visibility
depend on either setting, with GetterOnlyAutomaticProperties vetoing the
getter-only case for both.
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-5[1m]:Claude Code
Siegfried Pammer