gacutil

Global Assembly Cache management utility

TLDR

Install assembly to GAC

$ gacutil -i [assembly.dll]

Uninstall assembly from GAC

$ gacutil -u [AssemblyName]

List assemblies in GAC

$ gacutil -l

List specific assembly

$ gacutil -l [AssemblyName]

Install from package

$ gacutil -i [assembly.dll] -package [name]

gacutil manages the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) for .NET assemblies. The GAC stores shared assemblies that can be used by multiple .NET applications.On Linux, gacutil is provided by Mono. It installs, uninstalls, and lists assemblies in the GAC. Strong-named assemblies can be shared across applications through the GAC.

PARAMETERS

-i assembly

Install assembly to GAC.

-u name

Uninstall assembly from GAC.

-l [name]

List assemblies (optionally filtered).

-il listfile

Install assemblies from list file.

-ul listfile

Uninstall assemblies from list file.

-us assembly

Uninstall assembly using its full name from the assembly file.

-package name

Package name for installation; creates a symlink in prefix/lib/mono/NAME/.

-check_refs

Check that installed assembly doesn't reference non-strong-named assemblies.

-root dir

Root directory prefix for GAC operations.

-gacdir dir

Specify GAC directory (deprecated, use -root instead).

INSTALL

sudo pacman -S mono

sudo apk add mono

brew install mono

nix profile install nixpkgs#mono

CAVEATS

Requires strong-named assemblies for GAC installation. Mono's GAC differs from Windows .NET GAC. Root privileges may be required. .NET Core doesn't use GAC; assemblies are self-contained.

HISTORY

The GAC was introduced with .NET Framework 1.0 by Microsoft for assembly sharing. Mono implemented compatible tools including gacutil for cross-platform .NET development. With .NET Core/.NET 5+, the GAC model was replaced by NuGet packages.