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Let's say i have ASP.Net WebApi application deployed on production, and we want to update it, but because its a big project and old project we want to update only single Dll's, not whole project.

We have automated process of publishing such things, and we make some regression tests and integration tests. Mainly we do it only in hotfix situation but now we want increse frequency of deployments

So my question is: is it safe to update single dlls ? what can go wrong ?

I tried to find answer in those places:

Updating a DLL in a Production ASP.NET Web Site bin folder

How to stop C# from replacing const variable with their values?

https://codeblog.jonskeet.uk/2019/06/30/versioning-limitations-in-net/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/library-guidance/breaking-changes

I think that if we make hotfix once and after some time make full deployment is not that bad (if we accept the risk), but if we are going to make it normal practice then with each single Dll deplyment risk gets higher than normal full deployment.

RedgoodBreaker
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  • Your question is "opinion-based" so you might not get answers, and you might get "close" votes. – tgolisch Feb 12 '20 at 14:42
  • I'll try to refine this question (but its not an easy task for such complex thing), I would like to know realistic pitfalls of such approach. – RedgoodBreaker Jul 08 '20 at 09:30

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I will go out on a limb and offer an answer. There are 2 valid answers to this question. Please consider each.

1) Yes. If your changes are minor (isolated to one project/dll), there are no other updates/upgrades, you have done adequate testing, you've made backups (so you can undo) then yes, it is possible to safely deploy one single DLL without deploying the entire project. Of course there are plenty of things which could go-wrong or surprise you, so be vigilant about monitoring your system(s) after deployment and be prepared to back-out (undo) your changes. Safety-first!

2) What you are proposing is a little cowboy-ish and does not conform to industry "best practices". Nearly anyone with experience would urge you to reconsider your strategy. Perhaps your current work conditions might not give you better options right now. We've all been there. However, to "replay the debt" that you incur by this risk, you need to also create a plan and impose a timeline on yourself, to move away from any future hotfixes like this.

tgolisch
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