How to write policy redirect files for native SxS dlls?

Question

Where can I find a good reference that explains how to write and install a SxS policy redirecting from one native assembly version to another?

I've already succeeded in building and installing two versions of my native assembly using a wix installer. But I'm not sure how to proceed from here. Most of the information I've found is about managed assemblies and the GAC. Is the procedure I'm looking for identical to that of managed dlls?

Thanks for the help, Dan

Answer 1

[I'm the current maintainer for Native SxS at Microsoft]

Hi Dan,

A Publisher Policy is a special type of assembly. It's installed in the same way as any other assembly, but with type="win32-policy" and name="policy.MAJMINVERSION.name" You can read more about it here or you could look at how the CRT's policy is authored. On my Vista machine, it's located under

 %windir%\winsxs\manifests\x86_policy.8.0.microsoft.vc80.crt_....manifest

Since it seems you are authoring a new assembly, providing a publisher policy just yet may not be necessary, as it only comes into play when it comes time to service your assembly (by redirecting old version to new).