.Net Assembly Manifest

A file that contains Metadata about .NET Assemblies is known as Manifest. Here, data about data or machine-readable information about a resource is Metadata.
MetaData: Metadata is a collection of data that describes how the elements in the assembly are related to each other and the relation between the elements of the assembly. It describes the relationship and dependencies of the components in the Assembly, version information, scope information and the security permissions required by the Assembly.
Metadata includes definitions of types,information about the version , references of external assembly, and other standardized information related to an assembly.

The Assembly Manifest can be stored in Portable Executable (PE) file with Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) code. We can add or change some information in the Assembly Manifest by using assembly attributes in our code. The Assembly Manifest can be stored in either a PE file (an .exe or .dll) with Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) code or in a standalone PE file that contains only assembly manifest information. Using ILDasm, you can view the manifest information for any managed DLL. Metadata: Metadata describes contents of the assembly classes, interfaces, enums, structs, etc, and their containing namespaces, the name of each type, its visibility/scope, its base class, the implemented interfaces,methods and their scope, and each method's parameters, type's properties, and so on.

Manifest: Manifest describes assembly itself. Assembly Name, version number, culture, strong name, list of all files, Type references, and referenced assemblies.

The assembly name, version number, culture, and strong name information make up the assembly's identity.

The information below is stored in Assembly Manifest:

1. Assembly name: A text string specifying the assembly's name.
2. Version number: This includes major and minor version number,the revision and build number. The common language runtime uses these numbers and information to enforce version policy.
3. Culture: Information on the culture or language that is supported by the the assembly. This information is to be used only to designate an assembly as a satellite assembly that contains culture-specific or language-specific information.
   (An assembly with culture information is automatically assumed to be a satellite assembly.)
4. Strong name information: The public key from the publisher if the assembly has been given a strong name.
5. List of files in the assembly: It maintains hash of every file that is contained in the assembly and the name of that file . It is important to note that all files that are contained in the assembly must be stored in the same directory where the file containing the assembly manifest is stored.
6. Type reference information: This information is used for types that are exported from the assembly. This Information is used by the runtime environment for mapping a type reference to the file that contains its declaration and implementation.
7. Information about referenced assemblies: It includes the list of other assemblies that are referenced by the assembly statically. Each of these references includes the dependent assembly's name and its metadata, and assembly public key, if the assembly is strong named.