Problems with Publisher Policy

[bri189a]

Im stuck. I havent been stuck for a while.

Manually doing a publisher policy in GUI tool works fine, but Im trying to make a publisher policy assembly. I have a test app that Im working with for simplicity.

version 1.0.0.0 is deployed to GAC.

my test console app is using version 1.0.0.0 returning a string ("Hello World")

version 1.1.0.0 modifies the string to "Hello Everyone"

Again, when manually doing publisher policy when I run the test program I get "Hello Everyone" and when view the fusion? program (the one used for debugging binding) it shows the policy being found at the machine level and returns the right assembly (1.1.0.0) from the GAC.

Now when I create a config file and create the policy through the al tool (as seen in so many books/blogs/forums) everything compiles. (Ive checked my config file for errors and cant find any).

I then use the gacutil tool to put this into the GAC and it shows up there nice and pretty. Oh, and I do have it named policy.1.1.TestAssembly as required (I also did policy.1.0.TestAssembly just in-case theres some weird thing, but Im pretty sure it should be 1.1). I have also ensure Im using the same SN key that the main assemblies are signed with (I saw a post where that could be a problem, but I dont see how, but I tried anyway) and have made sure to have the same processor specification when using the al tool (another post where I saw this could be a problem, but again, dont see how).

But now when I run (after remove the manually created policy if I had that in there at the time) I continue to get Hello World. Looking at the fusion utility the framework isnt even looking for a publisher policy.

Now all the examples Ive come across are for 1.1 framework; havent seen any for 2.0 framework expect that which is in a book of mine; but the code is the same there.

I am absolutely stumped to what Im missing. I can send all my test files if needed later this weekend.

Thanks so much.

 

[PlausiblyDamp]

Signing both versions of the dll (and the publisher policy) with the same key tells .Net that these files are produced by the same company (or individual) and can be substitued for each other. If .Net didnt have a way to verify this then anyone could provide a Dll of the corrects name and substitute it for one of your - this would be a major security risk.

The naming of the publisher policy is very important - get it wrong and it will not work.

If the Original assembly was called TestAssembly.dll and was of version 1.0.0.0 the publisher policy dll would need to be named

policy.1.0.TestAssembly.dll

the 1.0 in the name means this applies to any TestAssembly dll with a major version number of 1 and a minor of 0 - note this is the version of the original assembly.

Also the command line you are using to build the policy could be incorrect - it would need to be.

al /out:policy.1.0.TestAssembly.dll /version:1.0.0.0 /keyfile:<path to your keyfile> /linkresource:TestAssembly.config

To deploy this you would need to install the DLL / config file into the GAC on the target machine.

 

[bri189a]

Thanks PD,

Ive tried both 1.0 and 1.1 originally just for luck but as stated above neither worked.

I am using the same key for both assembly and publisher policy.

Im calling:

al /link:TestAssembly.config /out:policy.1.0.TestAssembly.dll /keyf:MyKey.snk

When Ive examined the assembly in reflector it has indeed the configuration information:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
   <runtime>
       <assemblyBinding>
            <dependentAssembly>
                   <assemblyIdentity name="TestAssembly" publicKeyToken="219ef380c9348a38" />
                   <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0"
                          newVersion="1.1.0.0"/>
                   <!-- Ive tried without the below too since this is the default -->
                   <publisherPolicy apply="yes" />
            </dependentAssembly>
       </assemblyBinding>
    </runtime>
</configuration>

I can see the assembly in the GAC.

Whatever Im doing wrong is something very minimal and trivial but is breaking my back.

I can zip up the files tomorrow if youd like to take a look and send screen shots of the cmd line calls. Im really stumped here on this, I just know its something plain as the nose on my face but I just cant seem to figure it out.

Thanks again for your help.

***Oh and the tool I was talking about, from the cmd line its fuslogvw

 

[PlausiblyDamp]

Feel free to post up the files - I should have time to look at it this week anyway.

 

[bri189a]

Changing the policy dll to the right version fixed the fact that it wasnt even looking for the publisher policy...now it is, but its still returning the original (see log):

*** Assembly Binder Log Entry  (4/2/2007 @ 9:40:42 AM) ***

The operation was successful.
Bind result: hr = 0x0. The operation completed successfully.

Assembly manager loaded from:  C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\mscorwks.dll
Running under executable  C:\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\Test\GAC Testing\TestGacAssembly\v 1.0.0.0\Test Console App.exe
--- A detailed error log follows. 

=== Pre-bind state information ===
LOG: User = ********
LOG: DisplayName = TestGacAssembly, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=97f6fa8856473f86
 (Fully-specified)
LOG: Appbase = file:///C:/Visual Studio 2005/Projects/Test/GAC Testing/TestGacAssembly/v 1.0.0.0/
LOG: Initial PrivatePath = NULL
LOG: Dynamic Base = NULL
LOG: Cache Base = NULL
LOG: AppName = Test Console App.exe
Calling assembly : Test Console App, 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\Framework\v2.0.50727\config\machine.config.
LOG: Publisher policy file is found at C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_32\policy.1.0.TestGacAssembly\1.0.0.0__97f6fa8856473f86\policy.1.0.TestGacAssembly.config.
LOG: Post-policy reference: TestGacAssembly, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=97f6fa8856473f86
LOG: Found assembly by looking in the GAC.
LOG: Binding succeeds. Returns assembly from C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_32\TestGacAssembly\1.0.0.0__97f6fa8856473f86\TestGacAssembly.dll.
LOG: Assembly is loaded in default load context.

Perhaps I have something wrong in my config file...thats the only thing I can think:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
	<runtime>
		<assemblyBinding>
			<dependentAssembly>
				<assemblyIdentity name="TestGacAssembly"
					  publicKeyToken="97f6fa8856473f86" />
				<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0" newVersion="1.1.0.0" />
			</dependentAssembly>
		</assemblyBinding>
	</runtime>
</configuration>

If you dont see anything there Ill zip up everything, but at this point it looks like the problem is narrowed down pretty much to the wrong assembly being returned since the log says the policy is found.

 

[PlausiblyDamp]

It looks like the public key token used in the config file is different to the one used by the DLL - if they dont match then it wont work.

 

[bri189a]

The problem was that the xml namespace attribute was missing from the assemblyBinding element, it should be xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1"

I wouldve though that the fuslogvw utility would of picked something like that up and I find it frustrating that it was something so simple. But now I know.

Thanks for you help PD, having the assembly point to 1.0 instead of 1.1 was defintley a part of it too. Also, youre right the public key token was part of it too, I had forgotton to recompile with the right key...but I thought I had updated the post before you had looked at it.

 

[bri189a]

One quick final question. If I have versions 2.0.0.0, 2.0.1.0, and 2.0.2.0 out in production and I have bug fixes in 2.0.3.0 is this right:

oldVersion="2.0.0.0-2.0.2.0" newVersion="2.0.3.0"

in order for the first 3 to point to the bug fixes (backward compatibility in mind in the code of coarse).

 

[PlausiblyDamp]

That should be fine - just remember to make sure your policy dll correctly refers to 2.0 and not 1.0 and you should be fine.

 

[joe_pool_is]

Hi there, Pros!

Ive stumbled into needing to be able to do something like this. Within our company, I have to deply an application that will include DLLs that I created.

Your thread above is very closely related, but it does not give me enough information to know what to do.

What are keywords that I could google for this? Is there a good site that steps through how to configure a runtime configuration?

In VS2005 Pro, Intellisence does not pick up <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">. Is this a hidden field, or do I need to add a reference to my project in order to gain access to it?

I really appreciate this forum!