are assembly bindings ignored for PublicKeyToken=null?

Question

I have the following in my app.config.

<configuration>
  <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
    <probing privatePath="bin2" />
    <dependentAssembly>
      <assemblyIdentity name="Foo" culture="neutral" publicKeyToken="null">
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.4497.27619" />
      </assemblyIdentity>
    </dependentAssembly>
  </assemblyBinding>
  ...
<configuration>

Fusion logging tells me that it's not looking in bin2 for my assembly.

LOG: Initial PrivatePath = NULL (and it never searches in bin/Debug/bin2/Foo)

Is this a problem with not having a publicKeyToken?

Answer 1

Yes, they are ignored for assemblies that are not strong named (have a publicKeyToken) since the CLR ignores version numbers for these assemblies.

See this MSDN page for more information.