Embed git commit hash in a .Net dll

You can embed a version.txt file into the executable and then read the version.txt out of the executable. To create the version.txt file, use git describe --long

Here are the steps:

Use a Build Event to call git

• Right-click on the project and select Properties

• In Build Events, add Pre-Build event containing (notice the quotes):

  “C:\Program Files\Git\bin\git.exe” describe –long > “$(ProjectDir)\version.txt”

  That will create a version.txt file in your project directory.

Embed the version.txt in the executable

• Right click on the project and select Add Existing Item
• Add the version.txt file (change the file chooser filter to let you see All Files)
• After version.txt is added, right-click on it in the Solution Explorer and select Properties
• Change the Build Action to Embedded Resource
• Change Copy to Output Directory to Copy Always
• Add version.txt to your .gitignore file

Read the embedded text file version string

Here’s some sample code to read the embedded text file version string:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;

namespace TryGitDescribe
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string gitVersion= String.Empty;
            using (Stream stream = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
                    .GetManifestResourceStream("TryGitDescribe." + "version.txt"))
            using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream))
            {
                gitVersion= reader.ReadToEnd();
            }

            Console.WriteLine("Version: {0}", gitVersion);
            Console.WriteLine("Hit any key to continue");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}