What is the "log4net.xml" file that gets added to your bin folder

Question

It's 1.3 MB big and gets added automatically when I compile my C# application. What is it for? Is it necessary? Will it "bloat" my installation package?

Answer 1

It's probably an XML documentation file, which contains the XML comments on all of the members in the log4net project. It's not at all necessary for installation, so you can delete it if you want. You can also tell the compiler not to emit XML documentation for a project in that project's properties.

Answer 2

Most likely it's the XML file which is used to generate .NET documentation.