Reproducing Newtonsoft.Json assembly version conflict

Question

I've set out to consistently reproduce the assembly version conflict in Newtonsoft.Json (related to my previous question Why is Newtonsoft.Json so prone to assembly version conflicts?) in order to better understand it, but I can't trigger it.

From the top answer there, it should happen if I have project A which references one version of Json.NET, then it references a project B which itself references a different version (and they don't have assembly redirects to handle the issue).

I've made a solution with a Class Library project and a Command Line project, both of which reference Newtonsoft.Json which I installed with Nuget Package Manager for both projects, and then I edited the Class Library packages.config to use an older version:

<package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="6.0.1" targetFramework="net452" />

While the Command Line project references the most recent version:

<package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="10.0.2" targetFramework="net452" />

This does not trigger the problem, however, the project still builds successfully and executes (I just serialize a string and print it from both projects, and I call the DLL from the EXE to ensure it tries to load both versions of Newtonsoft.Json.

I've uploaded the test project at https://github.com/sashoalm/ReproduceNewtonsoftJsonBug if needed.

Why isn't the bug getting triggered?

Is `Specific Version` set to true or false for the Newtonsoft references? http://docs.telerik.com/teststudio/img/troubleshooting-guide/visual-studio-tg/missing-assembly-references/fig3.png — mjwills, Jun 21 '17 at 12:20

Evk · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-21T12:41:47.623

First, despite what packages.json file says - your console application references version 6, not 10:

<Reference Include="Newtonsoft.Json, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
  <HintPath>..\packages\Newtonsoft.Json.6.0.1\lib\net45\Newtonsoft.Json.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>

However if you fix that (by uninstalling and reinstalling package for example) - it will still work fine. That is because there is automatic binding redirection in this case, see here:

Starting with Visual Studio 2013, new desktop apps that target the .NET Framework 4.5.1 use automatic binding redirection. This means that if two components reference different versions of the same strong-named assembly, the runtime automatically adds a binding redirection to the newer version of the assembly in the output app configuration (app.config) file.

If you look at output ConsoleApp5.exe.config file (not app.config in Visual Studio but in Debug\Release folder) - you will notice that binding redirects were automatically added there:

<runtime>
  <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
    <dependentAssembly>
      <assemblyIdentity name="Newtonsoft.Json" publicKeyToken="30ad4fe6b2a6aeed" culture="neutral" />
      <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-10.0.0.0" newVersion="10.0.0.0" />
    </dependentAssembly>
  </assemblyBinding>
</runtime>

If you remove them and then run target exe - it will fail at runtime.

That automatic binding redirecting is controlled by a property in .csproj file. If you open your console app .csproj you will see in one of the PropertyGroups:

<AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>true</AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>

If you change true to false - you will disable this feature and will see that warning you were trying to reproduce.

Hm, I can't find app.config in bin\Debug. There is only ConsoleApp5.exe.config and Newtonsoft.Json.xml, but they don't mention a Newtonsoft.Json version. — sashoalm, Jun 21 '17 at 12:41
Oh, OK. But that config file only has one `` key. Is it different for you (in case you compiled it)? Maybe I should just add the keys. — sashoalm, Jun 21 '17 at 12:43
Did you fix your first problem I mentioned in answer? Check in your ConsoleApp5 .csproj file if you really reference version 10 of Newtonsoft.Json or still version 6 (as in your original project I downloaded from your link). You have nuget package version 10 installed, but really still reference version 6. — Evk, Jun 21 '17 at 12:44
Just did it, it works now (or rather doesn't - it throws the exception). Thanks! I uploaded my changes to github - basically I disabled the binding redirects and changed the csproj like you said. — sashoalm, Jun 21 '17 at 12:49

Reproducing Newtonsoft.Json assembly version conflict

1 Answers1