LibLog library, which I described before, uses reflection magic to allow libraries to do logging without introducing dependencies to any particular logging framework. Problem with the magic tricks is that they fail from time to time.

For me this happened when I tried to use ILMerge for Dropcraft CLI tool and merge in one executable all the Dropcraft libraries, which use LibLog, and Serilog. As the result, merged executable did not produce any logs. No exceptions, no warnings – just empty screen.

After a short LibLog code review, I found the root cause - Type.GetType() calls. LibLog uses GetType calls to probe availability of the different logging frameworks and it uses assembly qualified type names, like Type.GetType("NLog.LogManager, NLog").

Here the issue, in the ILMerged executable there is no NLog assembly. LibLog is not able to detect any logging framework and silently ignores all logging calls. Solution is easy - if GetType call for an assembly qualified type returns null, call GetType for the type only.

Type.GetType("NLog.LogManager, NLog") ?? Type.GetType("NLog.LogManager");

After the change, assembly perfectly works with and without merging. An example of the fully modified LibLog file is available in the Dropcraft repository.