Release LIB is huge compared to debug

Question

I have a static library project with standard debug/release build options. I was intrigued to spot that while the debug .lib is a fairly large 22Mb, the release one is a whopping 100Mb. And this is not a massive code-base either, about 75 classes and none of them very giant.

My questions are whether this is normal, and whether I should care?

Answer 1

I would check to see if you're statically linking libraries in release mode and dynamically linking them in debug mode. You might be statically linking the C++ runtime for instance.

Answer 2

I had the same problem. The fix is very simple. Project Property/Configuration properties/General/Whole Program Optimization use No Whole Program Optimization instead of Use Link Time Code Generation. Size of my static library decreased from 5MB to 1.3MB

Answer 3

No, this is not normal. It should be the other way around. Yes, you should care.

I'd start by looking at the sizes again, to make sure I didn't transpose the release and debug sizes somehow.

Then look at the libraries you're linking in for release and debug. Did you accidentially link a debug library to ship, and ship library to debug?

Take a close look at your settings for release and debug. Something very fishy is going on.

Answer 4

Is it possible that a massive amount of this code is inline, and the debug version isn't "inlining"?

Answer 5

Ideally release lib should be smaller than debug one.

I guess you may be statically linking other libs such as MFC ,ATL etc...

check you release and debug build setting.

use #pragma once to avoid multiple time file inclusion.