.netdllgac

Updating a DLL in the GAC

I have an API DLL that several third party applications reference.

Some of these applications want things two ways in terms of updates.

  1. I want the latest stuff
  2. Don't update my direct binaries that often

There has been the thought of moving the DLL into the GAC and writing another DLL that is simply the wrapper for the DLL in the GAC (which the 3rd party apps would then reference). This allows the business logic (the part that would change frequently) to be updated in the GAC and the wrapper DLL would only need to be updated when new functions were made available.

The GAC is intended to keep versioned DLLs. So the wrapper DLL would have a reference to a specific version of the API DLL. How difficult is it to update the GAC DLL so that the references to it don't break but the binary contents differs?

Is this as simple as not changing GAC DLL versions when updating?

Solution

  • You can create an updated assembly, sign it and push it to the GAC so that the applications, which reference this assembly, won't notice the difference. You need to specify all parts of the version number (i.e. have the version number as 1.2.3.4 and not 1.2.3.* in AasemblyInfo.cs file) and use the same sn key. Then the version-specific reference won't be broken. And you'll be able to update your DLL as you need.