The application determines which version of the runtime it uses. The unification process includes any components an application may use. An application can redirect a component it uses to run with a particular version of the runtime. Components compiled with one version of the runtime could be redirected to use another version.

In the following illustration , the application MyApp uses two components, Comp A and Comp B. MyApp and Comp A were built with runtime version 1.0, so they contain static references to runtime version 1.0. Component Comp B contains a static reference to a .NET Framework assembly that shipped with runtime version 1.1, but because of unification, is redirected to run using the .NET Framework assembly that shipped with runtime version 1.0.

Assembly unification can redirect assembly binding

Applications can override this default behavior by providing binding redirection information in the application configuration file for any assembly. These overrides redirect the runtime to use a specific version of a .NET Framework assembly without affecting how other .NET Framework assemblies are loaded. For more information, see Assembly Binding Redirection.

Note:
Version 1.0 .NET Framework assemblies are not unified. The only way to instruct the runtime to use a .NET Framework assembly that is not version 1.0 is to create a configuration file that contains the appliesTo attribute in the <assemblyBinding> element. For more information about redirecting version 1.0 .NET Framework assemblies, seeTargeting a .NET Framework Version.

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