GetAssemblyIdentity Version always 1.0.0.0

Question

The Version is 1.0.0.0 even though both the file version and product version are defined in the DLL and display correctly when I view its properties in Windows 7. Any suggestions?

  <Target Name="TestingAssemblyIdentity">
    <GetAssemblyIdentity AssemblyFiles="MyCSharp.dll">
      <Output TaskParameter="Assemblies" ItemName="assemblyInfo"/>
    </GetAssemblyIdentity>
    <Message Text="GetAssemblyIdentity Version is %(assemblyInfo.Version)" />
  </Target>

Answer 1

The GetAssemlyIdentity task returns the assembly version (AssemblyVersionAttribute), not the file or product version. The later are not part of the assembly's identity.

Note that assembly version and assembly file/product version serve different purposes.

See here for a possible way to read the file version from within msbuild.