RE: pdb files for assemblies in GAC?

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the detailed feedback.

I think the behavior is by design. The debugger needs a way to find the pdb
files during debugging. If all the pdb files are placed in the installation
directory while the actual assemblies are loaded from the GAC, how can the
debugger know where to find the pdb symbol files? The debugger will only
assume the pdb files are in the same folder as the assembly.

Using _NT_SYMBOL_PATH is a way to tell the debugger where to look for the
pdb symbol files, another way is placing the pdb at the same folder as the
assembly in GAC. Actually, in VS2005, you may just place all the assemblies
in a directory cache and then set this cache folder path in the
Tools->Options->Debugging->Symbols dialog. This will tell the VS debugger
where to find the pdb files for all the modules/assemblies in the debuggee
process.

Hope it helps.

Best regards,
Jeffrey Tan
Microsoft Online Community Support
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