Customizing the Microsoft .NET Framework Common Language Runtime

The CLR is incredibly flexible in its ability to be adapted to a variety of application environments and deployment scenarios. In this chapter, I discussed how you can completely replace the way the CLR locates and loads assemblies if you need that amount of customization. In general, you can use two different techniques to customize the CLR default deployment model. The approach you pick will depend directly on the amount of customization you require. The CLR hosting APIs provide the hooks necessary to load assemblies from virtually any format or storage mechanism imaginable. Although this approach provides the greatest degree of flexibility, it also requires the most effort in terms of implementation. As an alternative to writing an unmanaged host, you can achieve some level of customization from completely within managed code. The primary capability you lose with this approach is the ability to change the way the version policy system works. You also see slightly poorer performance than you would if you were to write a full CLR host. If neither issue is of concern, you can save yourself some time and effort by taking advantage of the productive gains you'll realize by sticking with managed code.