dSYM files for release builds

Question

Do .dSYM resources contain any other information except DWARF information? I have created a release build of an app. Now if I run dwarfdump on it, it says the executable has no DWARF info (says it's "empty"), which is what I would expect. But if I then run dsymutil on it, it creates non-empty symbol files. These are binary files so I don't know what's in them. Can anyone enlighten me on this? Are there any viewers for these files?

Answer 1

Yes, there is additional information. Note that the .dSYM file is actually a directory. Inside you will find:

SomeApp.app.dSYM/Contents/Info.plist
SomeApp.app.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF/SomeApp

Be aware that you need to keep the exact .dSYM and .app bundle that was created when you made the release build. Even if the code hasn't changed, the .dSYM from a separate build won't match up because apple generate a unique id for each build you do.