What does GAC uses to keep record of DLLs

Question

I have a Utility class dll added to GAC of front end live server.

Now I need to make copy of dll with another name and change a little bit of code in it.

If I copy renamed dll to GAC is it enough ? what if both dlls generated from different projects but both projects has same GUID or Public Key.

In short I don't want GAC to mix up my renamed dll to original dll

Answer 1

The GAC uses an assemblies strong-name to identify it, this is a combination of

simple text name, version number, and culture information (if provided) — plus a public key and a digital signature

Given you are renaming the DLL then the GAC should identify your updated DLL as a completely different assembly so there should be no issues with overwriting the the original.