How to add resource to existing signed assembly

Question

Hello. Given: - an assembly (e.g. "SomeLib.dll") - a text file (e.g. "myconfig.xml")

I need to embed the file myconfig.xml into the existing assembly SomeLib.dll

Please consider before pressing "Answer": I know about resources embeding during compile (csc.exe .. /embedresource:file ... ).

The thing is that I need to embed a resource after assembly has created.

Is it possible?

I also know about ILMerge. But havn't found how it could help.

Answer 1

Your going to need to resign the assembly after adding the resource. The whole point of assembly signing is to prevent people from modifying the contents of an assembly without being able to tell it was modified. You can use signcode.exe, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/9sh96ycy(VS.80).aspx to resign the assembly after adding the resource, assuming you have the proper certificates.

Answer 2

The Assembly Linker tool can be used to combine modules and resources into a signed assembly. However, I have not been able to find a way to use an existing assembly as input.

> al.exe SomeLib.module /out:SomeLib.dll /keyfile:SomeLib.snk /embed:myconfig.xml

Answer 3

You can use Cecil for this: load an assembly, add a resource, save to an assembly.