[Mono-devel-list] Re: Potential GAC implementation ideas.

[Joshua Tauberer]

Here is another idea (I don't think it's been suggested yet)...

Let packages install files in their own application-dependent way, e.g.:

/usr/share/mymonoapp/version2/lib/MyMonoLibrary.dll

and then have them call the GAC installation program on that file. 
Gacutil might then add a symlink from the GAC path to the DLL.  If the 
target of the symlink disappears or if it no longer points to the right 
version of the DLL, then the symlink is deleted and the runtime 
continues looking elsewhere for the DLL.  So, I think the RPM system 
would still work as it should, and it doesn't expose the internals of 
the GAC.  (Of course a database could, and probably should, be used 
instead of symlinks.)

Something to think about is that normally one doesn't have more than one 
version of an RPM installed at a time (is it even possible?).  If a 
package is making use of the GAC, then presumably it's because there's a 
reason to have multiple versions installed, which isn't very RPM-like.

-- 
- Joshua Tauberer

http://taubz.for.net

** Nothing Unreal Exists **