ILMerge...Why?

[Todd Carnes]

I have read several threads regarding using ILMerge to combine all your
dlls with your exe to create one single exe file....I don't get it.

Why would you ever want to do this?

Todd

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

I have read several threads regarding using ILMerge to combine all your
dlls with your exe to create one single exe file....I don't get it.

Why would you ever want to do this?

In most cases it is a bad idea, because you get multiple copies
of the code in DLL's which is against the fundamental idea of DLL's.

But it makes deployment slightly easier and in some cases that can
justify it.

Arne

 

[Cor Ligthert[MVP]]

Todd,

Why would you ever want to do this?

May I ask you this with a question.

Why would you never want to do this?

Cor

 

[Todd Carnes]

Todd,

May I ask you this with a question.

Why would you never want to do this?

Cor

Because I think it defeats the whole purpose of using dlls to begin
with. It seems like a step backwards to me. If you are going to stuff
all your code into one monolithic file, you might as well return to
using DOS as well.

But what do I know?

I thought the whole idea of dll's, as well as so's on Linux systems, was
that they could be unloaded from memory when not in use and that more
than one program can use them, thus saving disk space and saving time &
money (because you don't have to re-invent the wheel every time you
write a new program). Surely, once you've used ILMerge to squash
everything into one file this is no longer true, correct?

Todd

 

[Todd Carnes]

To deliver your product as a single .exe file that does not need any other
files or installation procedure. These are called "no-install programs" and
are a very welcome development (or revival of an old idea).

Maybe I'm just being thick-headed here, but why is this "a very welcome
development"?

The whole idea off dll's is to get away from this. With a dll, if you
issue a bug fix for the dll, you only have to fix the dll and every
program that uses the dll gets the benefit of the fix. If you merge the
dll with your program, your program will be tied to that version of the
dll and you'll have to recompile your program every time a dll is changed.

Granted, I can think of one situation where this "might" be advantageous
(running the program from a portable media like a USB flash drive), but
I can think of several situations where this might be considered a bad idea.

Please understand, I am NOT trying to start an argument with this
question. I really don't see the benefit and am trying to understand.

Todd

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

Maybe I'm just being thick-headed here, but why is this "a very welcome
development"?

The whole idea off dll's is to get away from this. With a dll, if you
issue a bug fix for the dll, you only have to fix the dll and every
program that uses the dll gets the benefit of the fix. If you merge the
dll with your program, your program will be tied to that version of the
dll and you'll have to recompile your program every time a dll is changed.

Granted, I can think of one situation where this "might" be advantageous
(running the program from a portable media like a USB flash drive), but
I can think of several situations where this might be considered a bad
idea.

Sometimes ease of deployment is the biggest priority.

Arne

 

[J.B. Moreno]

Because I think it defeats the whole purpose of using dlls to begin
with. It seems like a step backwards to me. If you are going to stuff
all your code into one monolithic file, you might as well return to
using DOS as well.

It's not a step backwards because dll's weren't a step forward -- they
were a solution to a problem that almost was....

But what do I know?

I thought the whole idea of dll's, as well as so's on Linux systems, was
that they could be unloaded from memory when not in use and that more
than one program can use them, thus saving disk space and saving time &
money (because you don't have to re-invent the wheel every time you
write a new program). Surely, once you've used ILMerge to squash
everything into one file this is no longer true, correct?

You don't need DLL's to unload the code out of memory, and hard disk
space hasn't been an issue for anybody (including MS) since gigabyte
hard drives came out.

Back in the late 80's code size for major applications briefly
outstripped the available disk size when installed on on slightly older
systems. But in the last 20 years it's been the rare developer that
needed more hard drive space than was available on the average users
system. Today it's practically impossible to even get a user to think
about it.

Code reuse is a different matter, and in a way it's the saving grace of
DLLs. They limped along for a decade looking for a problem to solve,
one eventually came along -- the internet and interactive web page.

But unless you're working on a program that is going to have a web
based front end, or needs some other kind of distributed execution,
dlls just aren't of much benefit.

 

[Cor Ligthert[MVP]]

J.B. Moreno,

As I would have written almost the same as you, I just want to add one word
near my opinion,

dlls just aren't of much benefit

anymore.



Cor

 

[Peter Morris]

Dynamic loading is still a big benefit for plugin type systems.

 

[Todd Carnes]

You don't need DLL's to unload the code out of memory, and hard disk
space hasn't been an issue for anybody (including MS) since gigabyte
hard drives came out.

I do see your point about the disk space, but just because you have
gigabytes of space available, doesn't mean you should use gigabytes of
space.

Also, although I can already hear the objections that will be raised on
this point, size DOES matter to those who want to download a program,
but are not fortunate enough to have access to super-fast internet
connections. Believe it or not there are still plenty of people out
there who are forced to either use a dial-up connection or not have
internet at all....

I know this because until recently I was one of those people who still
only had a 28k (not even 56k) dial-up connection because that was all
that was available where I lived. (LOL... Thank goodness, I moved.)

[snip]

Code reuse is a different matter, and in a way it's the saving grace of
DLLs. They limped along for a decade looking for a problem to solve,
one eventually came along -- the internet and interactive web page.

But unless you're working on a program that is going to have a web
based front end, or needs some other kind of distributed execution,
dlls just aren't of much benefit.

I don't work on programs with web-based front-ends, but I still use dlls
for code reuse. Why would I want to write the same code over and over
again when I can just write it once, store it in a dll and then use it
with as many programs as I want?

Todd

P.S. Thanks to everyone participating in this thread. I'm learning a
lot. (even if it might not seem like it at times <grin>)

 

[Todd Carnes]

In most cases it is a bad idea, because you get multiple copies
of the code in DLL's which is against the fundamental idea of DLL's.

But it makes deployment slightly easier and in some cases that can
justify it.

May I ask you for an example when it would be justified?

Todd

 

[J.B. Moreno]

I do see your point about the disk space, but just because you have
gigabytes of space available, doesn't mean you should use gigabytes of
space.

No, of course not...but are you building an application that requires
gigabytes of space?

Also, although I can already hear the objections that will be raised on
this point, size DOES matter to those who want to download a program,
but are not fortunate enough to have access to super-fast internet
connections. Believe it or not there are still plenty of people out
there who are forced to either use a dial-up connection or not have
internet at all....

I know this because until recently I was one of those people who still
only had a 28k (not even 56k) dial-up connection because that was all
that was available where I lived. (LOL... Thank goodness, I moved.)

Well, until fairly recently I didn't even see 28k (19-24 was the norm),
so I do understand....but in most cases DLL's won't make a difference.

2 out of 3 things have to be true for DLL'S to matter in regards to
size, 1 I'll take as a given (lack of access to a decent patcher
program), but the other two....

2. Frequent updates to PART of the program
3. Multiple programs installed on the users computer that share a
large amount of code.

DLL's don't help with the initial download, only subsequent downloads
and d

[snip]

Code reuse is a different matter, and in a way it's the saving grace of
DLLs. They limped along for a decade looking for a problem to solve,
one eventually came along -- the internet and interactive web page.

But unless you're working on a program that is going to have a web
based front end, or needs some other kind of distributed execution,
dlls just aren't of much benefit.

I don't work on programs with web-based front-ends, but I still use dlls
for code reuse. Why would I want to write the same code over and over
again when I can just write it once, store it in a dll and then use it
with as many programs as I want?

You can statically link against the same code -- dynamic linking is
useful when the code you're "reusing" changes faster than the code
using it (this is the case for plug-in's for instance), or is outside
your control.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they are never appropriate and
wouldn't necessarily recommend using ILMerge. But I would recommend
taking a look at your proposed usage before breaking things out into
separate DLL's.

 

[Todd Carnes]

No, of course not...but are you building an application that requires
gigabytes of space?

LOL, no, of course I'm not. I was exaggerating a bit to make a point.

Well, until fairly recently I didn't even see 28k (19-24 was the norm),
so I do understand....but in most cases DLL's won't make a difference.

2 out of 3 things have to be true for DLL'S to matter in regards to
size, 1 I'll take as a given (lack of access to a decent patcher
program), but the other two....

2. Frequent updates to PART of the program
3. Multiple programs installed on the users computer that share a
large amount of code.

DLL's don't help with the initial download, only subsequent downloads
and d

You know, I hadn't looked at it in that way before. you make a good point.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Todd

 

[Joel Lucsy]

I thought the whole idea of dll's, as well as so's on Linux systems, was
that they could be unloaded from memory when not in use and that more
than one program can use them, thus saving disk space and saving time &
money (because you don't have to re-invent the wheel every time you
write a new program). Surely, once you've used ILMerge to squash
everything into one file this is no longer true, correct?

A couple of things. One, only AppDomains can be unloaded. Therefore,
statically linked assemblies can not be unloaded.
Two, there is an overhead for loading assemblies. Perhaps nothing
noticeable for a handful of assemblies, but if you're breaking
everything out in 10's or 100's of assemblies, your load time of the
application will increase significantly. By ILMerge'ing them into a
single EXE you can reduce this overhead.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

May I ask you for an example when it would be justified?

The obvious one is if for whatever reasons requirements:
- must be distributable as a single file
- must run as is without any installation
- must be a windows app not a web app
have been cast in stone.

Arne

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

Code reuse is a different matter, and in a way it's the saving grace of
DLLs. They limped along for a decade looking for a problem to solve,
one eventually came along -- the internet and interactive web page.

But unless you're working on a program that is going to have a web
based front end, or needs some other kind of distributed execution,
dlls just aren't of much benefit.

What ??

Modularization of the deployment model is essential for
a decent development process.

Building everything to a big EXE does not work at all
for large projects.

I would be skeptical about it working even for medium
size projects.

Arne

 

[J.B. Moreno]

What ??

Modularization of the deployment model is essential for
a decent development process.

Deployment is part of the development process, but in most cases it
shouldn't be driving it. If it is, then you probably have some kind of
distributed execution system, and not a single application.

Building everything to a big EXE does not work at all
for large projects.

How does it not work? And how about putting some numbers to "large"
and "medium"?

I would be skeptical about it working even for medium
size projects.

It sounds like you're talking systems, in which case yeah sure, you
don't want to take down part of the system because you're updating
another. But that's covered under distributed execution -- one
user/one app works just fine when distributed as a single unit.

 

[Brian Gideon]

The whole idea off dll's is to get away from this. With a dll, if you
issue a bug fix for the dll, you only have to fix the dll and every
program that uses the dll gets the benefit of the fix. If you merge the
dll with your program, your program will be tied to that version of the
dll and you'll have to recompile your program every time a dll is changed..

There is a counter argument to that. The bug fix might actually break
your application if your were relying on the behavior that the bug was
causing. That's one (among many) reasons for testing your application
if anything changes including its dependencies. I'm not saying this
argument outweighs the benefits of using dlls though.

 

[Brian Gideon]

Why would you never want to do this?

I think using ILMerge requires more justification than not using it.
Modularity, memory management, disk useage, and application
maintenance represent a handful of benefits for using dlls that I
could come up with off the top of head. Though, I can also think of
scenarios where ILMerge would be useful.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

Deployment is part of the development process, but in most cases it
shouldn't be driving it. If it is, then you probably have some kind of
distributed execution system, and not a single application.
No.


How does it not work?

The teams producing different parts of the app becomes dependent
on each other.

And how about putting some numbers to "large"
and "medium"?

Those terms are not that well defined.

But if you think:
large is > 1 million LOC
medium 100000-1 million LOC
then you are not that far from me.

It sounds like you're talking systems, in which case yeah sure, you
don't want to take down part of the system because you're updating
another. But that's covered under distributed execution -- one
user/one app works just fine when distributed as a single unit.

I am talking development process - not operations.

Arne