picrap/blobber

Merge or embed .NET assemblies

Blobber

Merge or embed .NET assemblies

How to use it

Install the NuGet package in the target project. By default, referenced private assemblies (the ones with 'copy local' set) will be embedded and loaded when trying to be resolved.

Tuning with the Blobber file

However, the Blobber does much more.
It can also merge instead of embedding.
Also, assemblies referenced as not private ('copy local' not set) can be processed.

In order to make fine tuning, simply add a file named Blobber at the projet root (it can be of any type, so the none is recommended). The syntax is:
[(<Configuration>)][<scope>]<name>:<action>
Where:

• <configuration> is the build configuration. If this is specified, then the directive only applies in the given configuration.
• <scope> can be +, - or left empty (in which case it is equivalent to -). - addresses private assemblies (the 'copy local') and + specifies public assemblies (I am honestly not sure this feature is useful)
• <name> is the name of the assembly to match. Wildcards are supported, so SQLite or Microsoft.* will work as expected
• <action> is none, merge or embed.

Note: all lines are always processed, so you need to start from less specific to most specific.

So if no Blobber file is found in project it will behave as if this line was specified:
*: embed
(even if a Blobber file is used, the line above is always used before any other line).

There is a sample here

blobber's Issues

Use Assembly.LoadFrom

Apparently it seems to solve the problem when loading PCL System and System.Core.

Is inheritance merged?

When a class inherits (or implements) from types whose assembly is to be merged, not sure the type is merged.

Allow module initialization to be called explicitly

When working with non .exe assemblies, the module cctors may not be called (this is the case for msbuild tasks), so allow them to be called explicitly.

Debug info not merged

And it should be!

Generics not merged

Generics seem not to be merged