PDB Path set

[Karen]

Hello

Im using Visual Studio 2005, I'm trying to build a release version of
an exe and this exe will be deployed on a shared drive. However I'm
doing a build on my own workspace, so the output pdb path is set in
the .vcproj file for the release mode:
$(TargetDir)/prm.pdb

the $(TargetDir) is set to a path that is my work space specific.
Once I moved the exe, the pdb, and other dlls to the shared drive
area, the exe is still looking for the pdb file in my workspace path
(which doesn't exist for people running in their PC)

Any idea how I can make this flexible? (I'm a newbie at VS8, only
recently upgraded to VS6, and we had no such problem) Am i looking at
the right place?

Appreciate your help, I really need the PDB file at run time.

-Karen

[Karen]

Actually my question really comes down to, how do you make your exe to
read the pdb from the current directory rather than from the directory
you built it?
Thanks again

Post by Karen
Hello
Im using Visual Studio 2005, I'm trying to build a release version of
an exe and this exe will be deployed on a shared drive.  However I'm
doing a build on my own workspace, so the output pdb path is set in
$(TargetDir)/prm.pdb
the $(TargetDir) is set to a path that is my work space specific.
Once I moved the exe, the pdb, and other dlls to the shared drive
area, the exe is still looking for the pdb file in my workspace path
(which doesn't exist for people running in their PC)
Any idea how I can make this flexible?  (I'm a newbie at VS8, only
recently upgraded to VS6, and we had no such problem)  Am i looking at
the right place?
Appreciate your help, I really need the PDB file at run time.
-Karen

[Nathan Mates]

Post by Karen
Actually my question really comes down to, how do you make your exe to
read the pdb from the current directory rather than from the directory
you built it?

A few possible tricks:

1) Use /pdbpath:none on your linker's commandline, per
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.vc.debugger&tid=7055258b-1943-4d70-83e4-dd1fc587a372&cat=en_US_20e648a8-8c61-4ea2-a166-21b816cb6397&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=&p=1
or
http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/Development/microsoft.public.development.device.drivers/2006-11/msg00718.html

2) If you're using dbghelp.dll to load your PDB, try calling
SymSetOptions(SYMOPT_LOAD_ANYTHING);

This may help force it to load things, even if the full path
differs.

Nathan Mates


--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpage http://www.visi.com/~nathan/
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios -- http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein

[Karen]

Hi Thanks for the tip. I've tried the /pdbpath:none ... but i get the
following. Does it only work for certain compiler?

1>Compiling...
1>cl : Command line warning D9002 : ignoring unknown option '/
pdbpath:none'
1>stdafx.cpp
1>Compiling...
1>cl : Command line warning D9002 : ignoring unknown option '/
pdbpath:none'

Post by Karen
Actually my question really comes down to, how do you make your exe to
read the pdb from the current directory rather than from the directory
you built it?

1) Use /pdbpath:none on your linker's commandline, perhttp://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg...
orhttp://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/Development/microsoft.public.deve...
2) If you're using dbghelp.dll to load your PDB, try calling
      SymSetOptions(SYMOPT_LOAD_ANYTHING);
   This may help force it to load things, even if the full path
differs.
Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpagehttp://www.visi.com/~nathan/ 
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios --http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein

[Nathan Mates]

Post by Karen
Hi Thanks for the tip. I've tried the /pdbpath:none ... but i get the
following. Does it only work for certain compiler?

It looks like you put /pdbpath:none on the commandline for the
compiler -- for C/C++ files. You need to put it on the commandline for
the *linker* instead.

Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpage http://www.visi.com/~nathan/
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios -- http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein

[Karen]

Yes thanks, just realized it too. However it still didn't find the
PDB, even though the PDB is in the same directory as the exe. Can you
think of anything else that needs to be done?

The reason I need the PDB so badly is I'm using a StackWalker code
from codeproject.com to dump real time stack trace.

Hi Thanks for the tip.  I've tried the /pdbpath:none ... but i get the
following.  Does it only work for certain compiler?

   It looks like you put /pdbpath:none on the commandline for the
compiler -- for C/C++ files. You need to put it on the commandline for
the *linker* instead.
Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpagehttp://www.visi.com/~nathan/ 
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios --http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein

[Nathan Mates]

Post by Karen
Yes thanks, just realized it too. However it still didn't find the
PDB, even though the PDB is in the same directory as the exe. Can you
think of anything else that needs to be done?
The reason I need the PDB so badly is I'm using a StackWalker code
from codeproject.com to dump real time stack trace.

Go back to my first posting earlier today, where I mentioned
two things to try: (1) the /pdbpath:none . And (2), flags to pass to
SymSetOptions(). You focused on #1.

For what it's worth, in my projects, my code to do the stack
walking includes this code:

BOOL libSuccess = SymInitialize(g_hProcess, useSearchPath, true);
if(libSuccess)
{
DWORD curOpts = SymGetOptions();
#ifdef DEBUG
curOpts |= SYMOPT_DEBUG;
#endif
curOpts &= ~SYMOPT_DEFERRED_LOADS;
curOpts &= ~SYMOPT_EXACT_SYMBOLS;
SymSetOptions(curOpts | SYMOPT_LOAD_LINES | SYMOPT_LOAD_ANYTHING | SYMOPT_NO_PROMPTS | SYMOPT_CASE_INSENSITIVE | SYMOPT_AUTO_PUBLICS);
// [Re]load symbols for all files
SymRefreshModuleList(g_hProcess);
[...]

The LOAD_ANYTHING flag is what I was pointing out earlier.

Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpage http://www.visi.com/~nathan/
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios -- http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein

[Karen]

Thanks, I've also done #2 now. Still did not load it. This is what I
have. I also added a unch of options, but on the list that loaded, it
still didn't load the pdb.
I don't see anywhere else ...


DWORD symOptions = this->pSGO(); // SymGetOptions
symOptions |= SYMOPT_LOAD_LINES;
symOptions |= SYMOPT_FAIL_CRITICAL_ERRORS;
symOptions |= SYMOPT_LOAD_ANYTHING;
symOptions |= SYMOPT_NO_PROMPTS;
symOptions |= SYMOPT_CASE_INSENSITIVE;
symOptions |= SYMOPT_AUTO_PUBLICS;
// SymSetOptions
symOptions = this->pSSO(symOptions);
char buf[StackWalker::STACKWALK_MAX_NAMELEN] = {0};
if (this->pSGSP != NULL)
{
if (this->pSGSP(m_hProcess, buf,
StackWalker::STACKWALK_MAX_NAMELEN) == FALSE)
this->m_parent->OnDbgHelpErr("SymGetSearchPath",
GetLastError(), 0);
}
char szUserName[1024] = {0};
DWORD dwSize = 1024;
GetUserNameA(szUserName, &dwSize);
this->m_parent->OnSymInit(buf, symOptions, szUserName);


the pSGO() and pSSO() are declared and defined as follows

// SymGetOptions()
typedef DWORD (__stdcall *tSGO)( VOID );
tSGO pSGO;

// SymSetOptions()
typedef DWORD (__stdcall *tSSO)( IN DWORD SymOptions );
tSSO pSSO;



pSGO = (tSGO) GetProcAddress(m_hDbhHelp, "SymGetOptions" );
pSSO = (tSSO) GetProcAddress(m_hDbhHelp, "SymSetOptions" );

Yes thanks, just realized it too.  However it still didn't find the
PDB, even though the PDB is in the same directory as the exe.  Can you
think of anything else that needs to be done?
The reason I need the PDB so badly is I'm using a StackWalker code
from codeproject.com to dump real time stack trace.

   Go back to my first posting earlier today, where I mentioned
two things to try: (1) the /pdbpath:none . And (2), flags to pass to
SymSetOptions(). You focused on #1.
   For what it's worth, in my projects, my code to do the stack
  BOOL libSuccess = SymInitialize(g_hProcess, useSearchPath, true);
  if(libSuccess)
  {
     DWORD curOpts = SymGetOptions();
#ifdef DEBUG
     curOpts |= SYMOPT_DEBUG;
#endif
     curOpts &= ~SYMOPT_DEFERRED_LOADS;
     curOpts &= ~SYMOPT_EXACT_SYMBOLS;
     SymSetOptions(curOpts | SYMOPT_LOAD_LINES | SYMOPT_LOAD_ANYTHING | SYMOPT_NO_PROMPTS | SYMOPT_CASE_INSENSITIVE | SYMOPT_AUTO_PUBLICS);
     // [Re]load symbols for all files
     SymRefreshModuleList(g_hProcess);
[...]
   The LOAD_ANYTHING flag is what I was pointing out earlier.
Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates - personal webpagehttp://www.visi.com/~nathan/ 
# Programmer at Pandemic Studios --http://www.pandemicstudios.com/
# NOT speaking for Pandemic Studios. "Care not what the neighbors
# think. What are the facts, and to how many decimal places?" -R.A. Heinlein

[Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]]

Hi Karen!

Post by Karen
The reason I need the PDB so badly is I'm using a StackWalker code
from codeproject.com to dump real time stack trace.

Have you specified the "SymBuildPath" option!
Then the current directory and the directory of the EXE is already in
the search path!
Then it should find your PDB!

[Karen]

Hi, forgive me for not understanding these windows OS development
options ... where would SymBuildPath be specified?


On Mar 25, 1:21 pm, "Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]" <nospam-

Post by Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]
Hi Karen!

Post by Karen
The reason I need the PDB so badly is I'm using a StackWalker code
from codeproject.com to dump real time stack trace.

Have you specified the "SymBuildPath" option!
Then the current directory and the directory of the EXE is already in
the search path!
Then it should find your PDB!
--
Greetings
   Jochen
    My blog about Win32 and .NET
   http://blog.kalmbachnet.de/

[Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]]

Hi Karen !

Post by Karen
Hi, forgive me for not understanding these windows OS development
options ... where would SymBuildPath be specified?

I thought you are using the StackWalker from CodeProject, aren't you?

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/threads/StackWalker.aspx

If you use the default constructor, then this option is already
activated. If not, you need to be sure to set "SymBuildPath"!

[Karen]

On Mar 25, 2:57 pm, "Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]" <nospam-

Post by Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]
Hi Karen !

Post by Karen
Hi, forgive me for not understanding these windows OS development
options ... where would SymBuildPath be specified?

I thought you are using the StackWalker from CodeProject, aren't you?
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/threads/StackWalker.aspx
If you use the default constructor, then this option is already
activated. If not, you need to be sure to set "SymBuildPath"!

Hi, yes I'm using the default constructor. Just one concern, we use
vs2005, so I guess we'll use dbghelp.h that shipped with vs8. Will
there be things I need to concern with? I won't be able to manipulate
the SymOptions from above posts in StackWalker code anymore?

#if _MSC_VER >= 1300
#include <dbghelp.h>
#else
// inline the important dbghelp.h-declarations...
typedef enum {
SymNone = 0,
SymCoff,
SymCv,
SymPdb,
SymExport,
SymDeferred,
......

Post by Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]
--
Greetings
   Jochen
    My blog about Win32 and .NET
   http://blog.kalmbachnet.de/

[Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]]

Hi Karen!

Post by Karen
Hi, yes I'm using the default constructor. Just one concern, we use
vs2005, so I guess we'll use dbghelp.h that shipped with vs8.

No. Normally, you are using the dbhelp.dll which wa shipped with the OS,
Please download the latest "Debugging Tools for Windows" and use th
edbhelp.dll from there!

Post by Karen
Will
there be things I need to concern with? I won't be able to manipulate
the SymOptions from above posts in StackWalker code anymore?

By default, the correct path is already set, you don't need to set
additions options...

[Karen]

On Mar 25, 4:27 pm, "Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]" <nospam-

Post by Jochen Kalmbach [MVP]
Hi Karen!

Hi, yes I'm using the default constructor.  Just one concern, we use
vs2005, so I guess we'll use dbghelp.h that shipped with vs8.  

No. Normally, you are using the dbhelp.dll which wa shipped with the OS,
Please download the latest "Debugging Tools for Windows" and use th
edbhelp.dll from there!

Will
there be things I need to concern with?  I won't be able to manipulate
the SymOptions from above posts in StackWalker code anymore?

By default, the correct path is already set, you don't need to set
additions options...
--
Greetings
   Jochen
    My blog about Win32 and .NET
   http://blog.kalmbachnet.de/

Thank you for your quick turnaround ... I already got the dbghelp.dll
from Debugging Tools for Windows. The only reason it's not dumping
stack because it's not reading the pdb from the same directory. For
example, the deployed directory contains:
prm.exe
prm.pdb
...


however it was still trying to load the entire path of the prm.pdb
that is hardwired in the exe, i.e. $(TargetDir)/prm.pdb
where $(TargetDir) is my workspace path.

This works OK in my PC but won't work in user's pc. As a temporary
workaround, I mirrored the directory structure in the user's PC and
put the PDB there, i.e.
C:\view\CrashMar2008\PRM\bin\edg rw\prm.pdb

(As described in the posts above)

So I put in the linker options /pdbpath:none and the LOAD_ANYTHING
option. Still no luck.

Again, I had no such issues in VS6, I don't understand why VS8 is like
this. In VS6 we've also give similar directory structure as the pdb
path.


Thanks very much for your help... I really wish I can resolve this so
I'm not intruding the user's PC =(