Strong Name Assemblies (Assembly Signing) (C++/CLI)
This topic discusses how you can sign your assembly, often referred to as giving your assembly a strong name.
Remarks
When using Visual C++, use linker options to sign your assembly to avoid issues related to the CLR attributes for assembly signing:
Reasons for not using the attributes include the fact that the key name is visible in assembly metadata, which can be a security risk if the file name includes confidential information. Also, the build process used by the Visual C++ development environment will invalidate the key with which the assembly is signed if you use CLR attributes to give an assembly a strong name, and then run a post-processing tool like mt.exe on the assembly.
If you build at the command line, use linker options to sign your assembly, and then run a post-processing tool (like mt.exe), you will need to re-sign the assembly with sn.exe. Alternatively, you can build and delay sign the assembly and after running post-processing tools, complete the signing.
If you use the signing attributes when building in the development environment, you can successfully sign the assembly by explicitly calling sn.exe (Strong Name Tool (Sn.exe)) in a post-build event. For more information, see Specifying Build Events. Build times may be less if you use attributes and a post-build event, compared to using a linker options.
The following linker options support assembly signing:
For more information on strong assemblies, see Creating and Using Strong-Named Assemblies.