ILMerge is a utility for merging multiple .NET assemblies into a single .NET assembly. It works on executables and DLLs alike and comes with several options for controlling the processing and format of the output.
Visual Studio .NET doesn’t offer this (a linker). Luckily, at the Microsoft Research Download Page there is a free tool called ILMerge which does just this.
Download -> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=22914587-b4ad-4eae-87cf-b14ae6a939b0&displaylang=en
Microsoft Research Page -> http://research.microsoft.com/%7Embarnett/ilmerge.aspx
Usage:
* put “ILMerge.exe” in your \WINNT directory
* In VS.NET, right click project, Properties, Common Properties, Build Events
* In “Post-build Event Command Line” enter:
ilmerge /out:$(TargetDir)YOURAPPNAME.exe $(TargetPath) $(TargetDir)YOURDLLNAME.dll
* Then compile the Release version (not the debug version).
* In your “bin\Release” directory, you will find a YOURAPPNAME.exe which can be run on its own without the .dll. (http://www.developerfusion.co.uk/show/4504/)