Question

Is it possible an application that references multiple libraries to compile only into a .exe file and not .exe + all the .dlls?

I know I can rename all the namespaces to match that of the application, but I don’t want to do this.

Thanks

Answer 1

Yes, use the tool called ILMerge by Microsoft. After you build your projects it will let you combine all of the dll’s in to one exe.

Here is a CodeProject Tutorial showing you how to use it

ilmerge /target:winexe /out:SelfContainedProgram.exe 
        Program.exe ClassLibrary1.dll ClassLibrary2.dll

UPDATE: as Blindy mentioned If your code uses anything in the Reflection namespace you may run in to problems after you merge the files. It is a place to start looking if you start getting errors while running your program after you have merged.