visual studio dump file and pdb file

Question

visual studio require a version matched pdb file to debug the dump file. I feel this is very inconvenient, each time I release the binary file, I need to remember to copy the pdb file to another folder. If I forget do this, then I can not debug the dump file if app crash. Because during the time of release binary file and app crash, I will continue write code and build, the pdb file will refreshed.

Unlike gcc, when core dump generated, I can debug the dump file without anything(app build with -debug). But for vs, if there is not version matched pdb and source code, a dump file will be meaningless.

Is there a good way to cope with this?

Answer 1

The solution is uploading the PDBs to a symbol server after each build and point in the VS debugging options to the symbol server. VS or other debuggers like Windbg fetch the correct symbols on demand.