All devs, It was not my intention to change the strong name key for the 1.2.10 release. Due to some misadventure the key has changed between version 1.2.9 and 1.2.10. This has the undesirable effect of preventing binding redirects between these version working.
I am still investigating where my key management procedures broke down. But I think that it is now essential for log4net to examine our policy towards strong naming, especially as this is supposed to be an open source project. Does the private key form an integral part of the 'source'? It is not required to build an identically functional assembly, but it is required to build an identical binary replacement assembly. Our current policy is to hold the strong name signing key privately. This is the de facto policy carried over from pre Apache days, it has not been official discussed in our time here apache. Essentially the strong name key forms part of the assembly identity. The private key is not required to build functionally identical (or derivate) versions of the log4net assembly. However it is required to build assemblies with the same identity, i.e. that can be a binary drop in replacement. By releasing the strong name private key we will allow members of the community to build their own versions of the log4net assembly (regardless of functional changes) which can be used to replace the log4net assembly shipped with other 3rd party applications. One of the _features_ of the strong name identity (from the application's point of view) is that it prevents an assembly being replaced without the application knowing. If an application is using strong name binding to load its assemblies then it is sure of the provenance of those assemblies. If we release the private key then this is no longer the case (with regard to the log4net assembly), any 3rd party can create an assembly (which may or may not contain malicious code) that can be used to substitute for the log4net assembly. We need to decide if the strong name private key should remain private or if we should release it under the terms of the Apache licence. Regards, Nicko > -----Original Message----- > From: Bob Hanson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 13 June 2006 17:13 > To: log4net-user@logging.apache.org > Subject: new public key for 1.2.10? > > According to discussion at > http://forum.springframework.net/showthread.php?t=470, the > public key has changed from version 1.2.9 to 1.2.10. > > Was this by design? > >
