PDB file format

NTDEV
1

… where can I find its description?

TIA,

Vladimir

2

You can’t. Or, at least, you didn’t used to be able to. There used to be
a special SDK that would allow you to read some things out of it, but
not a general description.

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Vladimir
Chtchetkine
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 4:21 PM
To: NT Developers Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] PDB file format

… where can I find its description?

TIA,

Vladimir

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3

Not an officially documented file format AFAIK. A quick google search
turned up this attempt at reverse-engineering (which may or may not
cover post-VisualC 6 .pdbs).

http://www.informit.com/isapi/product_id~{BEA43C0B-E91A-4CA5-B9B5-951A
2798BAD1%7D/content/index.asp

  • Nicholas Ryan

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Vladimir
Chtchetkine
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 1:21 PM
To: NT Developers Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] PDB file format

… where can I find its description?
TIA,
Vladimir

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4

Or you can use the documented api (DIA 2.0) to access it. An example is
at

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdbdump

Thanks,
Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Nicholas Ryan
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 5:02 PM
To: NT Developers Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] RE: PDB file format

Not an officially documented file format AFAIK. A quick google search
turned up this attempt at reverse-engineering (which may or may not
cover post-VisualC 6 .pdbs).

http://www.informit.com/isapi/product_id~{BEA43C0B-E91A-4CA5-B9B5-951A
2798BAD1%7D/content/index.asp

  • Nicholas Ryan

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Vladimir
Chtchetkine
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 1:21 PM
To: NT Developers Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] PDB file format

… where can I find its description?
TIA,
Vladimir

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5

All you need is DIA SDK. From MSDN docs:

The Microsoft Debug Interface Access Software Development Kit (DIA SDK)
provides access to debug information stored in program database (.pdb) files
generated by Microsoft post-compiler tools. Because the format of the .pdb
file generated by the post-compiler tools undergoes constant revision,
exposing the format is impractical. Using the DIA API, you can develop
applications that search for and browse debug information stored in a .pdb
file. Such applications could, for example, report stack trace-back
information and analyze performance data.

Best regards,

Michal Vodicka
STMicroelectronics Design and Application s.r.o.
[michal.vodicka@st.com, http:://www.st.com]

From:
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Reply To: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 10:20 PM
To: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
Subject: [ntdev] PDB file format

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6

Cool! That’s even better! Thanks a lot!

Vladimir

-----Original Message-----
From: Michal Vodicka [mailto:xxxxx@veridicom.cz.nospam]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 2:15 PM
To: NT Developers Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] RE: PDB file format

All you need is DIA SDK. From MSDN docs:

The Microsoft Debug Interface Access Software Development Kit (DIA SDK)
provides access to debug information stored in program database (.pdb) files
generated by Microsoft post-compiler tools. Because the format of the .pdb
file generated by the post-compiler tools undergoes constant revision,
exposing the format is impractical. Using the DIA API, you can develop
applications that search for and browse debug information stored in a .pdb
file. Such applications could, for example, report stack trace-back
information and analyze performance data.

Best regards,

Michal Vodicka
STMicroelectronics Design and Application s.r.o.
[michal.vodicka@st.com, http:://www.st.com]

From:
xxxxx@borland.com[SMTP:xxxxx@borland.com]
Reply To: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 10:20 PM
To: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
Subject: [ntdev] PDB file format

<<message: microsoft exchange message>>
>
>

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