8.4. Versioning web applications

Versioned assemblies for web applications need to be created for all but trivial projects. The reasons for this are the same as for Windows applications. Without a methodical version numbering strategy, you’ll lose the ability to determine what changes were included in which versions, which source files went into which build, which version of the software is currently deployed at a client site, and which files to ship for client-specific incremental updates. A random version numbering system creates confusion, causes deployment problems, and results in reduced customer satisfaction.

8.4.1. Building web sites

By default, the assembly versioning mechanism in ASP.NET 2.0 is less than optimal. Let’s review the options available for building a web site (see figure 8.9).