5.3.0f4 export and player_win_x86.pdb & player_win_x86_s.pdb

Unity Engine
,
1

After updating Unity from 5.2.3f1 to 5.3.0f4 i noticed that i get two files in the exported game folder for windows standalone that weren’t there before:
player_win_x86.pdb (120 MB)
player_win_x86_s.pdb (17.9 MB)

In a smaller game project that’s a lot of extra data that i’m not even sure what it’s for. The game runs fine without it.

I’m assuming it’s for some log output / debug stuff. But then why should it get created in a non-development build?

Would like to get some clarification on that.

2

PDB files can be used for many purposes: debugging in any Windows debugger (VS, WinDBG, etc), profiling using non-unity profilers (VS, xperf, etc), and diagnosing crashes. You’re not supposed to ship these files with your game, but they can help diagnose issues with your game - for example, if it crashes on end user machine and you get your hands on the crash dump, the PDB file will allow you to pinpoint where it crashed.

3

So somewhat as i thought.

But if they’re for debugging/profiling and similar purposes and not supposed to be shipped, why are they getting put in a non-development build?

Just noticed this can also create a log file in the GAME_Data folder with my system information and more.

Are we supposed to scan through all the files in the export & sub folders after a non-development build process and look for files we may or may not be supposed to ship now?

That just kinda surprises me.

Just wondering: should i report this as a bug or would i just get a “By design” note?

4

I’d expect the PDB to be there by design. Even if you don’t ship the PDB to the user, you should keep it somewhat tied to to your game version, so you can easily find it if you need it.

Also, development vs non-development PDBs are different, and cannot be reused. That’s why they are separate.

There shouldn’t be any other files that you should remove from the directory that you built the game to. The log file gets created when you launch the game.

5

Well, okay then.

Thanks for the answers! :slight_smile:

6

Any way to supress creating the *.pdb files when launching the game?
I want to offer my clients to have a clear folder without any insecuring data!

7

PDB files are copied to your game directory when you build it from Unity, not when you launch the game.

8

Ups, you´re right. Seems I observed it wrong, sorry.

9

I find this very strange that this would be intended. This should be off by default in production builds and be available through BuildOptions.