[Ikvm-developers] AssemblyVersion vs AssemblyFileVersion

[Bell, T. (E O C&S US) <tre...@si...>]

One issue we have here at my job, is that whenever we want to upgrade to
the latest IKVM release, every project we have must update their
assembly references because the assembly version has changed. We also
have to recompile everything. If however, you keep the AssemblyVersion
the same, but update the AssemblyFileVersion, then you do not need to
update your assembly references. For example, when a security patch is
released for the .NET framework, they only update the
AssemblyFileVersion.

 

I realize that major changes to IKVM, such as new assemblies, and public
interface changes would mandate a change to the assembly version, but I
don't think this is happening on every release.

 

Does it make sense to maintain a stable assembly version that would
allow developers to retain their existing references? I do think that
the assembly version should change, whenever any public breaking change
is implemented between versions.

 

Here is an article from Microsoft, describing this in some more detail.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/556041

 

-Trevor Bell