CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netdllassembliesgacutil
Ramon M
Ramon M

Reputation: 31

Trouble getting a .NET Publisher Policy Assembly to work

I created fresh projects for this as a proof of concept but I cannot get it to work.

I created a ClassLibrary1.dll with a simple method in it, at version 1.0.0.0. I created a WindowsFormsApplication1 that calls that method, also at version 1.0.0.0. I created associated setup projects for each solution and installed the MSIs. Everything good so far.

Then, I incremented all the version numbers of ClassLibrary1 to 1.0.1.0. I created a config file to redirect to the new version:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

    <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="ClassLibrary1" publicKeyToken="99e3abf647b4f724" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0" newVersion="1.0.1.0"/>
      </dependentAssembly>

      </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
</configuration>

I used that to create a policy.1.0.ClassLibrary1.dll publisher policy with this command:

al /embed:ClassLibrary1.dll.config /out:Policy.1.0.ClassLibrary1.dll /keyfile:TestKey.snk /platform:anycpu /v:1.0.1.0

I inserted that into the GAC, both using the setup program, and manually after the DLL was installed by the setup program. Both ways the result is the same: A gacutil /l policy.1.0.ClassLibrary1 returns one instance of the policy in the GAC, but running the program fails to use the new version.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Liberty Testing\ClassLibrary1>gacutil /l Policy.1.0.ClassLibrary1
Microsoft (R) .NET Global Assembly Cache Utility.  Version 4.0.30319.0
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

The Global Assembly Cache contains the following assemblies:
  Policy.1.0.ClassLibrary1, Version=1.0.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=99e3abf647b4f724, processorArchitecture=MSIL

Number of items = 1

Though, I would note that manually looking in C:\Windows\Assembly does not show that the policy assembly exists anywhere in that subtree. I uninstalled all the libraries and reinstalled just the new version, and the program now crashes instead of using the new DLL. The fuslogvw output looks like this:

*** Assembly Binder Log Entry  (6/26/2017 @ 2:31:59 PM) ***

The operation failed.
Bind result: hr = 0x80070002. The system cannot find the file specified.

Assembly manager loaded from:  C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\mscorwks.dll
Running under executable  C:\Program Files (x86)\Liberty Testing\Test Form\WindowsFormsApplication1.exe
--- A detailed error log follows. 

=== Pre-bind state information ===
LOG: User = DOMAIN\user
LOG: DisplayName = ClassLibrary1, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=99e3abf647b4f724
 (Fully-specified)
LOG: Appbase = file:///C:/Program Files (x86)/Liberty Testing/Test Form/
LOG: Initial PrivatePath = NULL
LOG: Dynamic Base = NULL
LOG: Cache Base = NULL
LOG: AppName = NULL
Calling assembly : WindowsFormsApplication1, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null.
===
LOG: This bind starts in default load context.
LOG: No application configuration file found.
LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\config\machine.config.
LOG: Post-policy reference: ClassLibrary1, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=99e3abf647b4f724
LOG: The same bind was seen before, and was failed with hr = 0x80070002.
ERR: Unrecoverable error occurred during pre-download check (hr = 0x80070002).

It does not appear to be looking at for a publisher policy at all. We have spent days trying to figure out what we are doing wrong. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 455

Answers (1)

Ramon M
Ramon M

Reputation: 31

It turns out the trouble was because we were running the al.exe command when the working directory was on a mapped drive.

We have our Visual Studio project folders on a network share, and set up the Visual Studio command prompt to use pushd to automatically map a drive. No errors were generated during the whole process, but the policy config was not being installed because of the map drive.

We copied one of the folders locally and went through the process with positive results.

Since we don't want the project folders to be local, we resolved the issue by instead using powershell, which natively supports UNC paths as working directories, and everything works.

I created a guide to help anyone else trying to do this. It doesn't address the UNC issue, but it seems not many people do that.

Creating a Publisher Policy Assembly for Custom Libraries

Upvotes: 2

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