I'm building a .NET DLL Class Library which depends on other libraries such as log4net.dll - where should I put these DLLs when packaging up my DLL? Is there a way to automatically include them inside one super-DLL? Should I just ship all the DLLs in a single bin folder?
Just ship them all in a directory with your dll (assuming you're talking about a binary distribution - in a source distribution I'd have a "lib" directory containing your dependencies).
Don't forget to check whether or not you need to also supply licences, directions to get the source etc.
I wouldn't be tempted to try to merge your class library with the dependencies, personally.
You need to check the EULA and other licenses attached to those other DLL's first. Some may restrict how their DLL libraries are redestributed. Assuming no issues with that, you can either compile them all together as one big DLL, or create an installer (or a simple zip file) that will install all the associated DLL's in their intended destination.
in your solution tree, have a folder called 'src' for all yoru source code and one called 'lib' for libraries such as log4net, your homemade dll library, and any other libraries.
You should take a look at ILMerge. I linked a blog that shows an usage of ILMerge
Leveraging ILMerge to simplify deployment and your users experience
Not sure how you are deploying your solution, but don't forget that in order to sign your class libraries you'll need to have your 3rd-party .dlls signed. This alone might require you to merge all your references.
Related
At the moment of creating a project of type "Library of Classes, usually one can generate a dll when compiling, but how could I generate a dll without losing others that I already have included?
I explain with an example: It turns out that Nuget downloaded an S22.Imap dll with the one I worked with, later I generated the dll in the traditional way that I explained in the beginning, but when I wanted to work with dll in another computer, I got errors that were not I found functions that contained the S22.IMAP dll. So to solve this problem, I had to copy the dll of my project, S22.IMAP in an additional way in a specific path of the other computer.
My question is:
How could you generate a dll that includes the ones included in the project you were working with?
All the referred 3rd party dlls (S22.Imap.dll in your example) will be copied to the output folder together with your own dll file (let's say a.dll) when you build your project. That means you should always copy them together (S22 + a.dll) to the place you want to refer them, on another computer/folder/place.
If you really want to make them only one file (although it is not recommended), you can set the S22 one as some "nested resource". Then you will get only one a.dll file and the S22 one is inside the a.dll. See below page for some reference:
Embedding one dll inside another as an embedded resource and then calling it from my code
AND, ILMerge is some tool that can help you do so.
In general, you don't. A DLL is a dynamic linked library, and you would normally only combine static libraries during a build. Here is an answer on the difference between static and dynamic linking.
Typically you would include all the DLLs you need in the installer package. If you use Visual Studio to create the installer, it can detect the dependencies for you. When you run the installer, all of the necessary DLLs are deployed. Nearly all commercial .NET software follows this pattern.
It is possible to merge an assembly into another assembly using a tool called ILMerge. This would be a very unusual thing to do, and could cause issues with intellectual property and code signing, so it is not recommended.
I have a product 'prod.exe' which I would like to obfuscate. 'prod.exe' has two dependencies: 'common1.dll' and 'common2.dll'.
I can obfuscate 'prod.exe' fine using ConfuserEx.CLI.exe listing its dependencies in the '.crproj' settings file.
I would also like to obfuscate the dlls 'common1.dll' and 'common2.dll'. Of course if I was to obfuscate these dlls on their own then my product wouldn't be able to reference them, so I need to do it at the same time as I obfuscate the product.
I can't find any obvious way to do this using ConfuserEx, but a potential solution I've attempted is first merging the exe and its dependent dlls using ILMerge and then obfuscating the resulting merged exe with ConfuserEx. Merging works just fine, but when I try to run the merged exe through ConfuserEx I get an error:
Failed to resolve dependency of prod.exe
This error happens whether or not I provide ConfuserEx paths to the dependent dlls. Although the dependencies are within the binary of prod.exe ConfuserEx can't find them.
Any help solving this problem would be greatly appreciated, whether that's a method to obfuscate an exe and it's dependencies separately or do it on a merged binary like I've attempted.
Cheers
It appears the ConfuserEx merges dependencies into the target by default removing the need for use of ILMerge.
When creating a new library MyAPI.dll, I am referencing many other (non-standard) libraries such as RestSharp.dll, Newtonsoft.dll,MyUtilities.dll, etc. My library works fine in my development environment because I've downloaded all of those other libraries and they're sitting in my project's bin folder, but as soon as I try to publish that library and use it in a new location, it fails because the referenced libraries cannot be found.
How to I set up my MyAPI.csproj project so that these dlls/libraries get packaged into my published .dll file, and future users of MyAPI.dll don't have to worry about downloading and referencing those dependencies?
Thought this would be simple, but my google-fu is weak today. Setting those external references to CopyLocal = False removes them from the /bin/ directory, giving the illusion that they are getting packaged into MyAPU.dll, but really Visual Studio is just adding them to my Global Assembly Cache (GAC), which doesn't help future users of the API.
There are two options (as far as i know):
ILMerge
Embeded Resource and Assembly.Resolve (see Jeffrey Richter)
First you can use ILMerge, which is comamndline program that can merge multiple .NET assemblies together, creating one output file. It cant merge WPF projects. Can be added to postbuild events to make the merge automatic.
Second is adding library as embeded resource to your project, and then registering to Assembly.Resolve event and loading assembly when its needed from resources. Article from Jeffrey Richter about this method: Jeffrey Richter.
The second method has major drawback, it doesnt work with merging multiple libraries into one (it can only be used for adding libraries to executable), at least in c# without another tool. To add library to library you have to use another tool, which is mentioned in Jeffrey's article comments at second page: (Module initializer injection).The problem with embeding library into other library is that you cant (at least in c#) register to Assembly.Resolve event before the embeded library is needed, so you need to inject the registering to module initializer using the Module initializer injection. It can also be set as build event, which is written on the apge with the tool. It may sounds complicated, but once you set it up its easy.
There is a free nuget package "Costura.Fody" it packs dependency assemblies as resources into your assembly. The solution works with WPF and other managed assemblies.
If the dependency assemblies are not in the executing folder, the packed assemblies are taken automaitcally. It also configures your msbuild targets automatically for packing the dependencies during build. You do not have to add code in your assemblies.
It also lets you configure, which assemblies to pack or not in a xml file.
It uses a combination of two methos:
Jeffrey Richter's suggestion of using embedded resources as a method of merging assemblies.
Einar Egilsson's suggestion using cecil to create module initializers.
You can find documentation here: https://github.com/Fody/Costura/blob/master/README.md
It's not free (well there's a trial) but a friend of mine told me about a program called .NET Reactor, which has the ability to package an exe with dependent DLL's into a single executable, well worth a look.
I would say the next most straight-forward alternative would be ClickOnce, a good tutorial is here.
Java provides the jar file so that all the class files and jar files are merged into one file.
Does C# provide equivalent/similar functionality?
.NET compiles into dll or exe. You can use ILMerge to merge several dlls/exes into one.
Aren't .NET assemblies just for this?
Remember, you can include resources, etc in it.
Also, assemblies could be combined using ILMerge, and for more complex scenarios you probably should better use ClickOnce or MSI deployment.
For silverlight, there's XAP packages, but I assume you're talking about desktop .NET.
It's called an "assembly".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_assembly
The jar equivalent in C# (basically in any .Net language) is dll (for class library) and exe (for executable one) or collectively assembly. But one assembly can not include another assembly in the form of dll or exe. But ILMerge do merges two assemblies but not include one in another like jar file.
But there is project published in codeproject (http://www.codeproject.com/KB/install/NARLoader.aspx) you might get interested in. It do stuff like jar files with the .net assemblies.
Not really, C# works with .dll and .lib. If you don't put everything in the same project (all source code), you won't be able to achieve what you probably want to do.
But with ILMerge, you can combine everything into 1 executable for easier distribution if you don't want to have a setup or a compressed file containing all the files needed..
yes C# provides dll
Dynamic-Link Libraries
No, an assembly AFAIK can not include referenced assemblies.
I'm building a tool in managed code (mostly C++/CLI) in two versions, a 'normal user' version and a 'pro' version.
The fact that the core code is identical between the two versions has caused me a little trouble as I want to package the resulting tool as a single assembly (DLL) and I don't want to have to include the .cpp files for the common code in the projects of the two versions of the tools. I'd rather have a project for the common code and a project for each version of the tool and have each version of the tools project depend on the common code and link it in as desired.
In unmanaged C++ I'd do this by placing the common code in a static library and linking both versions of the tool to it. I don't seem to be able to get this to work in C++/CLI. It seems that I'm forced to build the common code into a DLL assembly and that results in more DLL's than I'd like.
So, in summary, I can't work out how to build the common code in one project and link it with each of the final product projects to produce two single DLL assemblies that both include the common code.
I'm probably doing something wrong but I tried to work out how to do this using netmodules and whatever and I just couldn't get it to work. In the end the only way I got it working was to tell the linker to link the build products of the common code assembly rather than the results which works but is a bit of a hack IMHO.
Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions for how I SHOULD be solving this problem?
Edited: I guess I should have mentioned the fact that the assemblies generated are not 100% managed code, they contain a mix of managed and unmanaged code as is, probably, quite common with assemblies produced with C++/CLI...
If you are annoyed at all the DLLs, download ILMerge. I use this to bundle together multiple DLL's into an easy-to-use .EXE for my clients.
If I'm understanding this correctly, you have a solution which contains two projects. One project for the "normal" user and one project for the "pro" user. Visual Studio allows you to add a "link" to another file source from another project. If your "pro" version has the real core code file, and in your "normal" version you add existing -> find the file in the "pro" project, and click the down arrow by the Add button and select "Add as Link". Now you have single file that is literally the same between two projects.
As said, ILmerge is one way. Personally, if you're bundling some exe with a lot of DLLs, I favor Netz.
You could use modules. You can link them into an assembly using the assembly linker, al.exe.
That's the downside of the .Net compilation process, you can't have things like static libraries and the header files that hold them together, everything is held in one big dll file and the only way to share information is to either build a common dll and reference it from other assemblies or to duplicate the code in each dll (possibly by copying/linking .cs files between projects).
Note that the 2nd way will declare different types, even though they have the same name. This will bite you on the ass with stuff like remoting (or anything that requires casting to specific shared interfaces between processes).
Remotesoft Salamander will hook you up. It's basically a native compiler and linker.
When using mono (or cygwin is an option) mkbundle may also be a valid choice.