[wix-users] Bundle - including mba dependent DLLs

[Phill Hogland]

When I build my C# WPF mba there are a number of wix and systems dependencies referenced to my mba which are copied by the build process to the mba project's output folder.  If I create a Payloads group to collect all of these DLLs (and config files) into the bundle, and then I run a bundle, if I compare the .ba folder created in the %temp% location to the Output folder from my mba project, it seems several of these referenced DLLs are both a different size and have different file metadata.  For instance:

Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.dll   in the mba Output folder is versioned 3.10.2.2516 and is 176,128 bytes, but in the .ba folder at runtime it is blank version and 335, 360 bytes
Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.Package.dll has similar behavior with a different size and blank file metadata in the .ba folder.
Microsoft.Deployment.Compression.Zip.dll  and Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.Linq.dll however, have the same version and file size in both locations.

I assume that this is expected behavior, as if I remove these 'altered' dlls from the payload the bundle still functions.  But if I remove an 'un-changed' dependency, such as one related to Microsoft.Practices.Unity, then there are problems.  So I guess that some of the expected wix dlls are being packed into a bundle for us.

This came up because those bundles have pdb files in my mba Output folder.  While I can point VS to that folder, I also tried to add these pdbs to my bundle, for Debug builds.  Curiously the pdbs for the non-changed dlls end up in the .ba folder but the pdbs for the above altered dlls do not end up in the .ba folder, even though they are all in the same PayloadGroup.

Any advice on which DLLs I should include in a bundle and whether this pdb behavior is intended and expected, is appreciated.

Phill