Source file information missing in StackTrace, when PDB loaded from another folder

Question

I'm trying to get a stack-trace information at runtime.

I'm using following code, and this works fine in the default project configuration:

  StackTrace trace = new System.Diagnostics.StackTrace(true);
  StackFrame frame = trace.GetFrame(0);
  int line = frame.GetFileLineNumber();
  Console.WriteLine(line);

However, the solution I'm trying to build is configured to put binaries and PDBs to separate folders:

<PropertyGroup>
  ...
  <OutputPath>Binaries\$(Configuration)\bin\</OutputPath>
  <IntermediateOutputPath>Binaries\$(Configuration)\obj\$(MSBuildProjectName)\</IntermediateOutputPath>
  <PdbFile>Binaries\$(Configuration)\pdb\$(MSBuildProjectName).pdb</PdbFile>
  <SkipCopyingSymbolsToOutputDirectory>true</SkipCopyingSymbolsToOutputDirectory>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
  <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
  <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
  <DebugType>full</DebugType>
  <Optimize>false</Optimize>
  <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
  <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
  <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
</PropertyGroup>

I can see in Modules window in Visual Studio that PDB was loaded. However, the frame variable doesn't contain information about source file (filename, line and column). If I copy .pdb and .exe to the same folder, output is correct again.

Therefore, as far as I understand:

PDB is correct (contains necessary information), because it works when I put files to the same folder
Visual studio is able to load the PDB, so the search path should also be correct

I have searched the internet (including http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee416588.aspx and Display lines number in Stack Trace for .NET assembly in Release mode), but all article mostly focus on loading PDBs from correct location (and as far as I'm concerned, that's not the case). What I do not understand is why the source-file/line information is not be obtained, although PDB is loaded.

So, the question is: is it possible to get Stack Trace containing information about source-files, when .pdb was loaded from different location? If not, why?

Which version of Visual Studio and which version of .Net?

ΩmegaMan
– ΩmegaMan

2013-11-25 21:30:14 +00:00
Commented Nov 25, 2013 at 21:30 — ΩmegaMan
– ΩmegaMan, Commented Nov 25, 2013 at 21:30
I'm using VS2012 and targeting .Net 4.0

nevermind
– nevermind

2013-11-26 14:17:50 +00:00
Commented Nov 26, 2013 at 14:17 — nevermind
– nevermind, Commented Nov 26, 2013 at 14:17

Hans Passant · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-25 22:18:17Z

4

You are just giving the CLR a hard time to locate the PDBs. The info you see in the debugger's Modules window is not relevant, that only matters for the debugger. The CLR has its own mechanism to locate and read PDBs. Necessarily so, this still needs to work without a debugger on the user's machine.

It is technically possible to tell the CLR where to look by setting an environment variable. Say you stored the PDB files in a subdirectory named "pdbs" then you could put this code in your Main() method:

var appdir = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location);
var pdbdir = System.IO.Path.Combine(appdir, "pdbs");
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("_NT_SYMBOL_PATH", pdbdir);

Or just don't give it a hard time and put them in the same directory as your EXE.

answered Nov 25, 2013 at 22:18

Hans Passant

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1 Comment

nevermind Over a year ago

Thanks for detailed explanation. Didn't know that CLR uses different algorithm for locating PDBs. Setting _NT_SYMBOL_PATH worked perfect! But, just to completely understand, are there any other folders that CLR looks into during PDB lookup (e.g. <Module Directory>, <_NT_SYMBOL_PATH>, ... anything else? ). Unfortunately, I cannot find anything relevant about CLR's mechanism.

ΩmegaMan · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-25 21:39:10Z

1

is it possible to get Stack Trace containing information about source-files, when .pdb was loaded from different location?

Yes but you need to tell Visual Studio where that location is, if it is not within the current directory. Specify the location in Tools->Options->Symbols in VS by adding the location of alternate PDB folder.

See the section entitled Specify symbol locations and loading behavior in Specify Symbol (.pdb) and Source Files in the Visual Studio Debugger for more information.

answered Nov 25, 2013 at 21:39

ΩmegaMan

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2 Comments

Hans Passant Over a year ago

Visual Studio isn't going to be around on the user's machine ;)

nevermind Over a year ago

Thanks, but that doesn't help, because, as I mentioned in the question, VS already can load correct PDB (because project was built on my machine)

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