I’ve just received this MSDN blogpost in my rss reader and I would like to know (since I don’t fully understand the process that he talking about if I should or should not install SP1
Furthermore I would like to know:
- how are assemblies signed in visual studio ?
- how the operating system checks these signs ?
- does the gcc (mingw) or any other compilers for Windows sign their assemblies ?
1) Yes. If you aren’t delivering signed assemblies, then you don’t have to worry about patching the MSBuild tools.
2) With a public key. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ab4eace3.aspx
3) The OS doesn’t. The .Net Framework does. The assembly loader verifies the public key against a digest to detect modifications. If the assembly has been modified, it doesn’t get loaded. http://www.csharp411.com/net-assembly-faq-part-3-strong-names-and-signing/
4) I have no idea. On Windows, the concept is something that exists in the .Net framework. Win32 binaries don’t allow for that feature.