What is a PDB file and how can I exclude it from the release folder when I rebuild my solution?
A PDB file contains information for the debugger to work with. There's less information in a Release build than in a Debug build anyway. But if you want it to not be generated at all, go to your project's Build properties, select the Release configuration, click on "Advanced..." and under "Debug Info" pick "None".
I had originally asked myself the question "Do I need a PDB file deployed to my customer's machine?", and after reading this post, decided to exclude the file.
Everything worked fine, until today, when I was trying to figure out why a message box containing an Exception.StackTrace was missing the file and line number information - necessary for troubleshooting the exception. I re-read this post and found the key nugget of information: that although the PDB is not necessary for the app to run, it is necessary for the file and line numbers to be present in the StackTrace string. I included the PDB file in the executable folder and now all is fine.
PDB is an abbreviation for Program-Debug Data Base. As the name suggests, it is a repository (persistent storage such as databases) to maintain information required to run your program in debug mode. It contains several vital information required for code debugging e.g. at what points you have put break points where you expect the debugger to break in Visual Studio (VS).
This is the reason why Visual Studio fails to hit the break points if you remove PDB files from the debug directory. Visual Studio debugger is capable of telling you the exact line number of code file at which any exception occurred along with its stacktrace. It is able to do so with the help of PDB files only. Thus PDB files are very helpful for debugging purposes.
In general, it is not recommended to exclude the generation of PDB files during build process. From production release stand-point, what you should be doing is create the PDB files but don't ship them to customer site in product installer. Preserve all the generated PDB files on a symbol server from where it can be used/referenced in future if required.
It is specially important in scenario where you debug process crash issues. While analysing the crash dump files, Visual Studio will not be able to make out the exact line of code where program is crashing if the original PDB files created during the build process were not preserved.
If you still want to disable generation of PDB files then follow below steps:
Go to properties window of the project. To open properties window, select the project file in solution explorer and press Alt + Enter.
Go to Build tab
Click Advanced
Choose none from Debug Info drop-down box
Press OK as shown in the snapshot below:
Note: This setting will have to be done separately for Debug and Release build configurations.
A PDB file contains information used by the debugger. It is not required to run your application and it does not need to be included in your released version.
You can disable pdb files from being created in Visual Studio. If you are building from the command line or a script then omit the /Debug switch.
Program Debug Database file (pdb) is a file format by Microsoft for storing debugging information.
When you build a project using Visual Studio or command prompt the compiler creates these symbol files.
Check Microsoft Docs
Related
I have a web project that posts from client-side code to a method in external dll, which I have source code file and pdb file of this external dll. What I would like to do is to debug external dll using source code file and pdb. Visual studio does not stop to say no symbols are loaded for the module since.
To debug a a symbol file with the same version is always needed. When you are debugging your own applications you usually don't have to care about this.
But there are things happening in the background. Visual Studio always puts the symbol files in the debug folder when you build your application and also loads them as described under Loading the symbols automatic.
(When you distribute your application you usually do not want to distribute those symbols and therefore they won't be copied to the release directory you change your build configuration to release.)
Loading the symbols manually
If you want to load the symbols manually you can load them with the Modules dialog.
"Debug" -> "Windows" -> "Modules".
You can right click a row and there is the option "Load Symbols" which lets you specify a PDB file to load.
Loading the symbols automatically
Visual studio also loads the symbols automatically when they can be found in one of the the places listed in the Specify Symbol (.pdb) and Source Files in the Visual Studio Debugger documentation:
The location that is specified inside the DLL or the executable file.
(By default, if you have built a DLL or an executable file on your computer, the linker places the full path and file name of the associated .pdb file inside the DLL or the executable file. The debugger first checks to see if the symbol file exists in the location that is specified inside the DLL or the executable file. This is helpful, because you always have symbols available for code that you have compiled on your computer.)
.pdb files that could be present in the same folder as the DLL or executable file.
Any local symbol cache folders.
Any network, internet, or local symbol servers and locations that are specified on, such as the Microsoft symbol server if enabled.
If you want to read more about how the symbols are used with visual studio you can read this article about Understanding symbol files and Visual Studio’s symbol settings.
This question already has answers here:
C# release version has still .pdb file
(6 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
If I put my C# program exe in a text editor, I can find debug information in it:
How can I remove that?
EDIT: I dont care about the pdb file, i only care about that there is a path to the pdb file in the executable. This path contains my name (coincidence in this example), my question is how i can remove THAT Path from the executable, NOT how to remove the pdb file itself.
OK, so yours is actually a curious question because what you are asking for is really nothing you normally would be concerned about. PDB files are not "personal information" and neither is the path found in the .exe that points to the .PDB file. Your example is pure coincidence. Moving on...
Easiest fix Based on Best Practices
Don't keep your Visual Studio code inside your Windows User Profile Documents folder. Instead move it to one of the following
c:\development or better yet, a folder on a non-OS drive if you can
When you are ready to ship, ensure you build your code on a CI server. In this day and age there is no excuse for not using a CI server in the same way as you should be using source control
That will fix the coincidental username appearing in your exe. Unless of course you are running your build agent in your user context instead of a dedicated build account.
Also, I like to keep Documents for, well documents and not get polluted with code; Git or SVN caches. It just creates noise for real-time back-up apps like CrashPlan.
Alternative
Just build without debug information.
Consider this default debug build, note the path to the associated PDB File:
Release with No debug settings
Settings
Yours is a debug build which you can tell by the path to the PDB file, a file containing debug information about the application. Normally you don't deploy a debug build of your application.
Make a release build of your application. Release builds by default do not generate a .pdb file.
Also, .pdb files don't give away "source code" to avid readers if that is your fear. At most it may list the path to a file, but a filepath doesn't constitute source code content.
See also:
You might want to check this out as to why its a good idea to always deploy PDB files
I have a web application developed at d:\projects\webapplication1 and it is published at d:\websites\webapplication1. I am browsing the website in IIS and attaching the process in visual studio, and it works. So, how does the debugger work in this case despite the source code and published code are in different locations.
The PDB files contain the absolute paths of the source files used to build the binaries. The sources will be automatically found if the absolute paths are valid.
The published code probably has a PDB file which has the file path for your code. The code will contain some debugging information (used for stack traces for instance) even without the PDB file being generated.
What is the best/correct way of attaching an external project source code so I can debug it?
I´ve already downloaded the source code of it from CodePlex, so I have all the .cs classes.
I´ve managed to import from a pdb file, but unfortunately, there´s no such file in this project codeplex (SimpleInjector).
After importing the SimpleInjector solution on VS, I could build it and generate the .pdb files, but I wonder whether it is the right way.
If your goal is to step-through debug the binary, then you will need the PDB files. In general, the compiled assembly just doesn't contain the information needed to associate source-code lines with individual IL commands.
The PDB file is a "program database file" which contains lots of useful debugging information; one of those things is the mappings between each compiled IL instruction and the source-code line that generate it. It also keeps a symbol table that lists the names of things that otherwise get compiled out (like local variable names, etc.) The PDB embeds the full path name of each source file, so if your source code is in the same place when you debug as it was when you compiled, the debugger will automatically find it.
If the .pdb file is present but the source code has moved, VS will give you the option to browse to the .cs file. But, if the .pdb file isn't present at all, your options will be rather limited.
The only risk you have is that you are debugging a program that doesn't match your PDB files. Therefore, if you are doing to try to debug the project, you should rebuild, from scratch, in Visual Studio and run that version of the binary.
(Debugging without symbols and source loaded into Studio is, of course, possible, but it's a much harder skill to master.)
I've switched over my solution's Build configuration to Release mode and now have an output in the "Release" folder instead of in the "Debug" one.
But still the Release output contains Program Debug Database files. Why is that? When should I keep them, when and how should I get rid of them?
The debug database files (.pdb or "symbol files") contain debug information, such as line numbers, to enable easier debugging.
When present, exception stack traces will contain the actual source file full path and line number.
It is up to you whether to distribute these along with your application.
In order to not create pdb files in Release configuration:
Go to your project's Properties.
Under "Build" tab, select "Advanced" (on the buttom).
For "Debug Info", select "None".
Note that this will not affect any references assemblies (their .pdb files will be copied to your project's output folder.
Read more about Symbols here: Program Database Files (C#, F#, and Visual Basic)
I guess it would be no difference if you deploy your application without these program debug databases as these files could be of great size.