How To Build and Service Isolated Applications and Side-by-Side A - 19 Feb 2002

Introduction Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) versioning conflicts have presented a complex and often frustrating set of problems (DLL hell) for Microsoft Windows application developers. Microsoft Windows XP addresses this problem by allowing application developers to build isolated applications and side-by-side assemblies. These help eliminate the effects of DLL versioning conflicts on the development, deployment, and maintenance of applications. Windows XP enables applications to be isolated, so that an application can consistently get the version of a component with which it was tested. New applications consume new versions of components, while old applications may continue to use older versions. Application authors and administrators can use manifests to manage the sharing of side-by-side assemblies after deployment, on either a global or per-application basis. Isolated applications and side-by-side assembly sharing can be used to develop applications that safely share Win32 assemblies provided eith