Remove PDB references from released file

Question

I use to take always a look at the final binary executable or DLL after debugging and creating a file with any IDE. Now I am trying Visual C++ 2010, in the search for the best release, without trash or unnecessary references. So, I created a new solution with two projects: an executable and its DLL. VC++ created a lot of intermediary files between the code and the final file. I opened the .exe and the .dll with a hexadecimal editor and saw something that I don't like. Somewhere inside the file there's an absolute path to the .PDB file.

Why? How can I remove it from VC++?

There must be some pre-processor command for this. What is the use of an absolute path to a .PDB file, like "D:\My Projects\Project1\Release\Project1.pdb" inside the binary of a file that will be distributed on computers with different folders? Besides that, I don't like to see one of my drive's paths saved inside a binary file that I want to share with other people. I am in Release mode, I don't see the use of that unnecessary information. How could I remove it?

Answer 1

You can use /pdbpath:none (or /pdbaltpath:%_PDB% on newer versions of link.exe) to remove the full qualified path name of the PDB file, but keep the name and extension of the PDB only. Keeping the name (and extension) of the PDB for released images is your only way to debug an image that is buggy. Windows images almost always keep the name and extension of the PDBs!