Different wsp file size each build

Question

I have a SharePoint project running in VS.net 2008. Each time when I build the wsp using WSP builder, the wsp file always turns out to be of different size. Nothing was changed between builds. This happens on all machines.

I was wondering what could be the reason behind it? Does it have something to do with the way the files were packaged?

Thanks.

UPDATE
Below are the steps I performed to get this issue:

-build project.

-build wsp file.

-check wsp file size.

-delete wsp file.

Repeat that for n times on the same project.

The variation of wsp file size is no more than 100 bytes. But if I build the same project using the same tool on the same machine, I would thought that the wsp file to come out the same size each time.

More update I have done a file comparison between 2 wps files using a file diff tool (after renaming the wsp files into cabs and extracting the files). There are 2 differences: one in the DLL file (which I can't read its all gibberish), and the other one in manifest file (just a difference in the time of build).

File size wise, all file sizes match up. Might have been a hashing thing?

Answer 1

It might be caused by visual studio incrementing the version number each build. Which in turn leads to a different wsp file size because of the cab compression.

Check the Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs, change the version attribute from 1.0.0.* to something static (1.0.0.0)