Assembly Linker (Al.exe)

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The Assembly Linker is used to create assembly manifests. Compilers and development environments may already provide this capability, so it is often not necessary to use this tool directly. The Assembly Linker will be most useful to developers needing to create a single assembly from multiple components files, such as might be produced with mixed-language development.

The Assembly Linker is also used when adding resources to satellite assemblies. The following command line:

  • creates satellite .dll ("WorldCalc.Resources.Dll).

  • with a German culture ("/c:de").

  • links in resources (in "MyStrings.de.resources").

  • giving them the name "MyStrings.de.resources".

    al /out:WorldCalc.Resources.Dll /v:1.0.0.0 /c:de 
   /embed:MyStrings.de.resources,MyStrings.de.resources,Private.

The final parameter indicates whether the resource should be made visible to other assemblies and will normally be set to "Private".