In computer science, an assembly manifest is a text file containing metadata about CLI assemblies. It describes the relationship and dependencies of the components in the assembly, versioning information, scope information and the security permissions required by the assembly.
Contents
The manifest information embedded within an assembly can be viewed using IL Disassembler (ILDASM.exe) which is available as part of Microsoft Windows SDK.
Assembly manifest
Every assembly, whether static or dynamic, contains a collection of data that describes how the elements in the assembly relate to each other. The assembly manifest contains this assembly metadata. An assembly manifest contains all the metadata needed to specify the assembly's version requirements and security identity, and all metadata needed to define the scope of the assembly and resolve references to resources and classes. The assembly manifest can be stored in either a PE file (an .exe or .dll) with Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) code or in a standalone PE file that contains only assembly manifest information.
The following illustration shows the different ways the manifest can be stored.
Types of assemblies
For an assembly with one associated file, the manifest is incorporated into the PE (Portable Executable) file to form a single-file assembly. You can create a multifile assembly with a standalone manifest file or with the manifest incorporated into one of the PE files in the assembly.
Each assembly's manifest performs the following functions:
Assembly manifest contents
The following table shows the information contained in the assembly manifest. The first four items — the assembly name, version number, culture, and strong name information — make up the assembly's identity.