[Ironpython-users] Changing AssemblyVersion in 2.7.5 Beta 2

[Jeff Hardy]

On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 10:13 AM, Markus Schaber <m.schaber at codesys.com> wrote:
> Hi, Jeff,
>
> Let me add some thoughts out of my view (I'm managing the IronPython script interpreter hosted within the CODESYS IDE):
>
>> In a world with NuGet, it makes
>> less and less sense to have it installed in the GAC *at all* except in rare
>> cases (such as SharePoint or SQL Server that require it).
>
> NuGet is not really appropriate for our own build system and workflows (which are established between us and our OEMs since years before NuGet appeared). :-(
>
> (OT: Just to prevent questions: Our Home-Grown "Automation Platform" framework predates MEF, MAF, NuGet and several other, now wide-spread technologies by years, and it is not easy to replace them as we need to strongly respect backwards compatibility for our OEMs which modify and adapt our product. :-)

Don't worry, the zip files won't be going away. I do expect most
embedders to move to NuGet over time, though.

>
>
>> In 2.7.5, the version will change to 2.7.5.0. The new installer will include
>> a publisher policy file in the GAC that binds the new version to anything
>> trying to load 2.7.0.40 (i.e. 2.7.4 and earlier). This is actually no
>> different than it would be if the version number stayed the same, it's just
>> more obvious what is happening.
>>
>> The reason for the change comes to anything built against 2.7.5 - it will no
>> longer accidentally load an older version of IronPython (you may still get a
>> newer one, if there ever is a 2.7.6; I'm still sorting out what policy files
>> allow). Had I known about publisher policy back in 2011 I doubt I would have
>> stuck with the same version the whole time.
>
> I'm not sure whether those publisher policy is a good thing. We need to make sure that the whole dependency tree (IronPython, IronPython.Modules and the various DLR assemblies) always are guaranteed to match.

The policy files will only redirect 2.7.0.40 to whatever the latest
version is. They won't redirect 2.7.5 to 2.7.6.

>
> Another bunch of problems might arise when we run upgraded IronPython libraries against an older standard library - we ship the (Iron)Python standard library in our own directory (currently 2.7.4), and I'm not sure whether there might be problems when those python files run against a newer (2.7.5, 2.7.6?) version of the IronPython interpreter.
>
> Is there any way a hosting application can influence the publisher policy programmatically?

Not programmatically, but I think the binding redirects in the
app.config file can override the publisher policy.

Thanks for the input. I knew that your team was impacted by this and
forcing custom builds is not satisfactory from my point of view.

- Jeff