Versions and the GAC

[Administrator]

I'm strong naming my assemblies and plan to deploy to the GAC for a new Winform application in the works. I read where assembly versions should not be changed but instead we should be changing the AssemblyFileVersion when incrementing our builds. My question is, how is this affected regarding deployments to the GAC? If I always leave my assembly version 1.0.0.0 for example and I ship an update to a DLL, so now I have assembly version 1.0.0.0 and file version 1.0.1.0. Will my assembly in the GAC get updated by an installer such as InstallShield (i.e. MSI)? Or do I have to increment the AssemblyVersion in order for GAC'd files to get updated?

Just stumped on the version concept and deployment in the GAC. Any insight is appreciated.

 

[JohnH]

I don't know about InstallShield, but with GACUtil use -if switch to replace a shared assembly with same name. Assembly version is part of strong name, file version doesn't matter.
There is also Publisher Policy Assembly that can be used, it will redirect usage of previous versions to a new version.

 

[Administrator]

Here is an interesting article on version numbers for those interested.