C# release version has still .pdb file

Question

I want to deploy the release version of my application done in C#.

When I build using the Release config, I still can see that .pdb files are produced, meaning that my application can be still debugged. This also means that some debug information is present somewhere in my code, slowing it down a little bit.

If this is true, how can I completely suppress any debug information produced in the binaries? Do you also know the reason of for having release .pdb? The Release configuration has the Optimize code checked, and only the TRACE constant is defined, not DEBUG.

Thank you for assisting.

Answer 1

If you want to disable pdb file generation, you need to use the "Advanced build settings" dialog available in project properties after clicking the "Advanced..." button" located in the lower part of the Build tab.

Set Output - Debug info: to None for release build configuration and no pdb files will be generated.

Answer 2

The default is to generate PDBs for release builds as well. That is a feature and you shouldn't disable it. Generating PDBs means you can get more information when debugging. The performance of the code is not affected in any way by the presence of PDB files.