pdb files appear in website publish folder

Question

I have asp.net website which when published using build > publish website option in VS2010 and even when checking omit debug information option in website publish window,published folder still contains pdb files is there a way to avoid this behavior?

Answer 1

Another way is to edit the pubxml file (under Properties / PublishProfiles of your web project).

I have then add bin\**\*.pdb (** is there to mean any hierarchy even none between bin and your pdb files) to the node ExcludeFilesFromDeployment.

The pubxml thus look like this :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <!-- ... -->
    <WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
    <ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>bin\**\*.pdb</ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Answer 2

The informational text on the Publish Web dialog, says:

Publish uses settings from "Package/Publish Web" and "Package/Publish SQL" tabs in Project Properties.

So to prevent PDB files being published, you can:

1. Delete all the PDB files from the existing publish location, if any exist. (They will not be deleted automatically).
2. Right-click on your project -> Properties and select the Package/Publish Web tab.
3. Ensure the Exclude generated debug symbols box is checked.

Now when you publish your project, the PDBs will be omitted.