I used web site deployment projects but I discovered that the aspnet_merge.exe utility is not on my build server. This prevents me from being able to build. In order to get this utility I have to install the Windows SDK which comes as an ISO file and is over 1gb. I do not want to install this entire thing when I all I need is that one assembly. But I am not sure if that file depends on anything else in that installer. I also do not understand why a web tool is buried in the Windows SDK. I would prefer to have it include in some web tools installer.
Has anyone just copied this assembly to the FrameworkSDKDir and just made it work that way?
Related: Using Visual Studio 2008 Web Deployment projects – getting an error finding aspnet_merge.exe
I downloaded the “web” version of the SDK because the setup is only 500KB and it prompts you for which components to install and only downloads and installs the ones you choose. I unchecked everything except for “.NET Development Tools“. It then downloaded and installed about 250MB worth of stuff, including aspnet_merge.exe and sgen.exe
You can download the winsdk_web.exe setup for Win 7 and .NET 3.5 SP1 here.