The .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) locates and binds references to assemblies, such as Data Provider, in the application program when it executes. By default, the CLR attempts to bind references to the exact version of the assembly that the application was built with. Consequently, your applications will not automatically use an updated version of the assembly just because you have deployed it; you must rebuild the application against this new version of the assembly, or the CLR needs to be directed by a configuration file to use the newer version of the assembly.
Usually, EBF/ESD releases of Data Provider for the same release level (major and minor) are binary-compatible with the previous release. It is possible for such updates to preclude rebuilding your application. If you do not want to rebuild and redeploy your applications for each update to Data Provider, you can use application configuration or Publisher policy files. Sybase usually includes a Publisher policy file in the ESD/EBF releases with the appropriate redirection. See the ESD/EDF documentation for information on backward-compatibility issues.
