Why copy local with DLL in VS.NET?

[Brett Romero]

What is the difference in
copy local = true/false

in VS.NET when referencing a DLL? I've noticed that changes to the DLL
(recompiling) aren't reflected in my project either way. I have to
remove then add the DLL to see any changes.

Thanks,
Brett

 

[Vadym Stetsyak]

If project has copylocal = true references, the dlls to which he refers will
be copied in the same folder, where output binary will be located.

 

[Brett Romero]

Uh, yeah, that's correct. So what good does it do you?

 

[Octavio Hernandez]

Brett,

This allows XCOPY deployment, i.e. you can copy the directory to another
directory (maybe in another machine, as long as it has .NET runtime) and the
app will run since it will find locally anything it needs.

Regards - Octavio

 

[Stephen Ahn]

Example : you use a third party component which is installed in the GAC on
developers PCs. However, for your clients, you might not want to have this
same component installed in their GACs, you might just want to deploy the
third party assemblies in the same directory as your normal application
files. Using Local Copy true in this case, makes it easier to create to
deployment package, since all the files you need are in the same output
directory for your project.