Assembly version compatibility issue

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From: Bob (bobatkpmg_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 06/02/04 

Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 09:46:15 -0500

I have a common assembly DLL that's installed into GAC (using msi created by
a setup project). It contains classes used by all the applications we have.
This works well but when I increase the version number (say, from 1.0.0 to
1.01), all existing applications have to be recompiled even if the change to
the assembly is to add new classes (that is, no change to existing classes).
I'd think there should be a way to make this version compatible. I have to
increase the version # for the msi to automatically uninstall the older DLL
and install the newer DLL properly when it's deployed.

Could anyone give me any suggestions? My goal is to keep the existing
client application intact (no recompilation) when new features are added to
the common assembly (that is, no change to any existing public interfaces in
the assembly).

Thanks
Bob

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