Where to store external DLL files?

Question

In my project I'm using some third-party libraries. I include them using the references folder in Visual Studio.

But where should I save the DLL files? They are referenced from a path in the file system, but it would be nice if I can include it into the project. But how?

Answer 1

This is what I do:

• Create a lib folder at the solution level
• Download and copy all my third-party DLL files into there
• Reference from the lib folder
• Put all those DLL files in the source control. I am using Subversion, and I add them manually but this is one-off.

You can also add a solution folder and add them there.

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UPDATE 2012-12-19

The answer above was when NuGet was in infancy. FWIW, my approach where we have NuGet items:

1. Do as above for plain DLL file dependencies (where they don't have a NuGet pkg)
2. Enable "Package Restore" for the solution
3. Change packages.config file if needed to lock down the version to a particular package
4. Do not store the package themselves in the version control system (set ignore for Git, Mercurial, etc.)

I actually use NuGet for managing even internal dependencies and have a private feed.