Why do we need gac

The virtual file system of GAC helps to fetch the version-specific assembly. GAC Tool is used to check for assembly existence, register a shared assembly, view and manipulate contents of GAC, etc. Being a system folder, it requires administrator privileges to be used.

Assembly Cache Viewer is used to display the details version, culture, etc. One of the drawbacks in using GAC are that the version of. NET Framework installed in the system where GAC is used and the one used for compiling the application need to be same. Also, strong names cannot be applied to assemblies like third party code on which the assemblies residing in the GAC folder depend upon. Share this Term. So, there will be no such problem with locally installed DLLs.

GACUtil tool doesn't ship with the end user. NET framework redestributable package. Learn More. Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Answered by:. Archived Forums. Also discuss all the other Microsoft libraries that are built on or extend the. Ali 0. Sign in to vote.

Basically GAC stores assemblies specifically to be shared by many application on computer. NET assemblies that are specifically designated to be shared by all applications executed on a system. The concept of GAC is the result of the. Each assembly is accessed globally without any conflict by identifying its name, version, architecture, culture and public key. Global Asssembly Cache is used to accomodate the shared assemblies which are used by many applications providing security to the assemblies so that no one can tamper them.

You should share assemblies by installing them into the global assembly cache only when you need to. As a general guideline, keep assembly dependencies private, and locate assemblies in the application directory unless sharing an assembly is explicitly required.

Location of GAC depends upon the version of. NET framework you are using. NET framework 2. NET framework 4. What is GAC and where it is located? By Chirag Satasiya in. NET on Nov 19