VS2008 - Release Build sets linker opt /DEBUG ??

Question

Hi,

 

In Visual Studio you can have "debug" and "release" configurations. You can

switch between them in the project properties dialog. The default settings

will generally be tailored to each configuration. However, I noticed that in

many of my native C++ projects, the "release" configuration has the

following linker options:

 

1. Generate Debug Info : Yes (/DEBUG)

2. Generate Program database file : $(targetdir)$(targetname).pdb

 

Is this normal??

 

Answer 1

Hi,

I have a similar problem.

I am currently working on small VB WPF program for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1,

and even when Properties > Compile has the settings

. Configuration: Release

. Build output path: bin\Release\

. Advanced compile options > General debug info: None

and Properties > Debug has the setting

. Configuration: Release

VS always builds only a debug .exe in \bin\Debug. In VS 2005 there was the option to compile a Release version. Has this feature been dropped in VS 2008?

Is this a VS bug, or are there settings I can modify to obtain the expected behaviour?

Visual Studio 2008 Pro, Version 9.0.30729.1 SP on Windows XP SP3

JPL

Answer 2

The problem was that settings in Build > Configuration Manager... (which I did not recognise at all - I cannot have looked there since the day VS was installed) were constraining those within the project properties.

Gerry,

Apologies for confusing your thread. I thought I had a similar problem and the additional notes would help in solving your problem. As it turned out, this proved incorrect.

JPL

Answer 3

Hi Gerry,

Any update? Has your question been resolved?

Best Regards,

Larcolais

---

Larcolais Gong[MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Get or Request Code Sample from Microsoft
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 4

Hello Larcolais,

 

The question has not been resolved. Please see the original post.

 

Thank you.

 

Answer 5

"JPL5780" wrote in message

news:[e-mail]...

> The problem was that settings in Build > Configuration Manager... (which I

> did not recognise at all - I cannot have looked there since the day VS was

> installed) were constraining those within the project properties.

 

Yes, you can change the project settings for debug/release, but the

"Configuration Manager" determines the "Active Configuration" and "Active

Platform".

 

 

Answer 6

Gerry Hickman wrote:

> Hello Larcolais,

> The question has not been resolved. Please see the original post.

> Thank you.

 

I'm also seeing this is VS2010.

 

I'm using the VC++ Win32 Console project type.

 

Answer 7

Yes this is normal. By default, even in "Release" configuration, the debug info file (.pdb) is created.

This is just for extremely unlikely case that a released app crashes and someone needs to debug it. But this never happens to Real Programmers ;) so these are free to disable /DEBUG.

--pa

Answer 8

Hello,

I am writing to check the status of the issue on your side.  Would you mind letting us know the result of the suggestions? 

YI

---

Yi Feng Li [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Get or Request Code Sample from Microsoft
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 9

Hello Yi,

 

I did not find helpful any of the answers so far.

 

There are two build profiles in Visual Studio - "Debug" and "Release"

 

The linker options in the "Release" configuration are set to include

debugging information in the COFF by default - this seems wrong to me.

 

The "Release" configuration should mean it's ready for commercial release.

 

If a programmer want's to create a "Release" build with "special" debug

options, because they have not tested their program correctly, then

surely it's the programmer's responsibility to create a special

configuration called "ReleaseD"?

 

Thanks for the help with this.

 

Yi Feng Li wrote:

> Hello,

>

> I am writing to check the status of the issue on your side. Would you mind

> letting us know the result of the suggestions?

>

> YI

>

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Yi Feng Li [MSFT]

> MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us<mailto:[e-mail]>

> Get or Request Code Sample from Microsoft<http://1code.codeplex.com>

> Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if

> they provide no help.

>

> <http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9755420>

 

 

Answer 10

Hi Gerry,

It is not possible to create an .exe or .dll that contains debug information. Debug information is always placed in a .pdb file. Therefore, either debug build or release build places the debug information in the corresponding .pdb file. The major difference of output build between debug and release is optimization. And debug build using Program Database for Edit & Continue (/ZI) for generate pdb file which is used for Visual Studio Debugger but release build only use Program Database (/Zi).

Generate debug information for release build is useful sometime. For example, your customer may send you the dump of a crash of your released application; you can use such pdb file to get more detail information for the dump. Of cause, as Pavel said, if you don’t want to generate such pdb files, you can just feel free to turn off the switch.

Hope the explanation helps.

Regards,

Yi

 

---

Yi Feng Li [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Get or Request Code Sample from Microsoft
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 11

Hello,

Would you mind letting me know the result of the suggestions? If you need further assistance, feel free to let me know. I will be more than happy to be of assistance.

YI

---

Yi Feng Li [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Get or Request Code Sample from Microsoft
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.