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How can I strong-name sign an assembly from the command line?

I cannot get this to work:

al /out:ProjectDoxCrypto.dll MyModule.netmodule /keyfile:IGC.snk

ProjectDoxCrypto.dll is a c# dll compiled with csc.exe within .NET 1.1, but I cannot get the line above to strong-name sign my assembly. I have no idea what "MyModule.netmodule" is referring to, so that's probably my problem. My IGC.snk file is in the same folder as the dll. The error I get when I run the line above is: "ALINK: error AL1016: No valid input files were specified".

What is an "input file" and how do I do this correctly?

Tom Knowlton

does IGC.snk already exist?

if so, how did you create the IGC.snk file?

command line to create the snk file is:

sn -k IGC.snk

SweatCoder

ASKER

yes, that's how i created it. i believe the snk file is fine. since posting this, i have read a bit more and came to realize that a dll cannot be strong-named signed. i can only sign a "module", whatever that is, prior to compilation.

so PLEASE explain to me how i can take my .cs file, my .snk file, and produce a strong-named assembly. i need to use command line tools, not IDE (long story).

HELP.

Tom Knowlton

You are not the author of the DLL?

Tom Knowlton

It is:

ProjectDoxCrypto.dll

that you are trying to strongly name?

SweatCoder

ASKER

Yes, I am the author of it. I can compile the DLL just fine, but i can't give it a strong name via command line compilation, etc. The MSDN documentation doesn't explain very well, in the Assembly Linker docs, what a "module" is or how to create one. I suspect maybe a module is an IL file (not a compiled dll), but I'm not sure.

So just to recap. I have a cs file. It compiles fine into a dll using csc.exe. But I need the resulting dll to be strong-named signed using my IGC.snk file. That's all.

HOW?

SweatCoder

ASKER

Yes, ProjectDoxCrypto.dll, but I read somewhere in MSDN that once you've got a dll, it's too late to sign it. So signing must happen during or previous to the final assembly being created, somehow. . .

Tom Knowlton

I haven't forgot about you....I'm still searching....

this is harder than I thought!

SOLUTION

Tom Knowlton

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Tom Knowlton

Maybe this, also:

http://andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2004/12/15/772.aspx

SweatCoder

ASKER

I pretty much figured it out on my own, and then came back and saw your posts. Here's what I ended up doing:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\csc -t:module ProjectDoxCrypto.cs
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\al ProjectDoxCrypto.netmodule /target:lib /keyfile:IGC.snk /out:ProjectDoxCrypto.dll
%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\RegAsm.exe .\ProjectDoxCrypto.dll /tlb:ProjectDoxCrypto.tlb
%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\gacutil /i .\ProjectDoxCrypto.dll

All of this worked, and my poor dll finally landed in the gac, BUT, there is one annoying problem. The very first cmd-line above creates this file: "ProjectDoxCrypto.netmodule", and this file seems to need to stay in the same folder as the dll. It gets referenced, and I don't want it to be. I want the dll to be independant and not always have to have that IL file sitting there as a dependancy.

Any ideas?

Tom Knowlton

Uuuugh.....maybe I'll look at this more tomorrow....gotta run my ride is here.

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SteveGTR

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SweatCoder

ASKER

i ended up biting the bullet and installing VS.net 2003 and compiling with the snk linked, and then everything worked the way i wanted. i was hoping to get the cmd-line stuff working but never did. i guess i learned some things about those command line tools, so not a complete loss. thanks for the input.

Tom Knowlton

Glad I could help.