Wednesday 4 December 2013

Goodbye Autofac

Autofac is one of my favorite IoC containers, due to its fluent, easy-to-learn syntax and great performance. However recently it let me down in some occasions and I had to get rid of it in the main project, I am working on. But let me explain it from the beginning.

Since Autofac 3.0, it is compiled against Portable .NET Framework. It is a subset of the usual .NET Framework, which runs on various devices and platforms. Such as Silverlight, mobile etc. The portable framework version number is 2.0.5.0. So far, so good. It worked well in my project with .NET Framework 4.5. But...

1. When we tried to obfuscate Autofac.dll using Dotfuscator version 4.8, it complained that mscorlib.dll version 2.0.5.0 cannot be found. Although it exists in the corresponding directory under C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework . Travis Illig suggested me to upgrade the Dotfuscator to latest version, which would definitely resolve the problem.

From Dotfuscator v 4.9 release notes:
  • Using String Encryption on Portable Class Libraries will no longer cause Windows Store apps to fail certification.
http://www.preemptive.com/support/dotfuscator-support/dotfuscator-pro-change-log/464

Unfortunately, upgrading Dotfuscator means purchasing a new license, which is pretty expensive. We managed to overcome this problem by putting mscorlib.dll v2.0.5.0 in one of the internal directories. Dotfuscator scans directories and managed to find it successfully.

2. The second problem appeared when we started testing the product on clean machines. We get the following exception, despite the fact that Portable Framework exists on the machine:

Could not load file or assembly 'System.Core, Version=2.0.5.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=7cec85d7bea7798e, Retargetable=Yes' or one of its dependencies. 

It happens as a result of Microsoft Known Bug KB2468871. It was fixed by the Redmond folks, but the relevant update is not installed on the machine.

So it means, that in order to use Autofac we have to required from our customers to install Windows Updates. Sometimes it might cause issues with corporate customers, that have strict policy regarding machine updates. It was decided that we'll stop using Autofac in this major project and will switch to something less "sensitive".

Nevertheless, we still use Autofac in many other internal projects. So it is not a real "Goodbye"




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