Static Linking of libraries created on C# .NET

Question

I\'m using VS2008 C#.NET.

I created 3 different classes of libraries in 3 projects. I wrote an application which uses these libraries (dlls).

What is happeni

Answer 1

Stumbled across this question, and found another method of achieving these ends from Jeffrey Richter (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2010/02/03/jeffrey-richter-excerpt-2-from-clr-via-c-third-edition.aspx): you can embed your .dll into your executable as a resource, then overload the AssemblyResolve event to load the assembly that way. Quoting the code from the link:

AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += (sender, args) => {
   String resourceName = "AssemblyLoadingAndReflection." +
      new AssemblyName(args.Name).Name + ".dll";
   using (var stream = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream(resourceName)) {
      Byte[] assemblyData = new Byte[stream.Length];
      stream.Read(assemblyData, 0, assemblyData.Length);
      return Assembly.Load(assemblyData);
   }
};

Answer 2

ILMerge is what you're after.

I'm not sure I'd really call this "static linking" - it's just merging several assemblies into one. (In particular, please don't get the impression that this is building a native, unmanaged executable.) However, I think it's what you're after :)

Update: ILMerge is now open source and is also available as a NuGet package:

Install-Package ilmerge 

Answer 3

You should also have a look at ILMERGE-GUI. It's a GUI wrapper for ILMerge.

Answer 4

You can place all of your code into one EXE project, use a third-party linker (google .net static linker for a number of options), or use ILMerge as illustrated here.

The third-party linkers generally also offer code obfuscation, and some can also statically link the .NET Framework.

Answer 5

In regards to Jon Skeet's answer, ILRepack is also a good open-source alternative to ILMerge. You can install it from NuGet via:

Install-Package ILRepack