Should I compile release builds with debug info as “full” or “pdb-only”?

Question

In Visual Studio 2010 for a C# project, if you go to Project Properties > Build > Advanced > Debug Info you have three options: none, full, or pdb-only. Based on the answer

Answer 1

WARNING MSDN documentation for /debug switch (In Visual Studio it is Debug Info) seems to be out-of-date! This is what it has which is incorrect

If you use /debug:full, be aware that there is some impact on the speed and size of JIT optimized code and a small impact on code quality with /debug:full. We recommend /debug:pdbonly or no PDB for generating release code.

One difference between /debug:pdbonly and /debug:full is that with /debug:full the compiler emits a DebuggableAttribute, which is used to tell the JIT compiler that debug information is available.

Then, what is true now?

1. Pdb-only – Prior to .NET 2.0, it helped to investigate the crash dumps from released product (customer machines). But it didn't let attaching the debugger. This is not the case from .NET 2.0. It is exactly same as Full.
2. Full – This helps us to investigate crash dumps, and also allows us to attach debugger to release build. But unlike MSDN mentions, it doesn't impact the performance (since .NET 2.0). It does exactly same as Pdb-only.

If they are exactly same, why do we have these options? John Robbins (windows debugging god) found out these are there for historical reasons.

Back in .NET 1.0 there were differences, but in .NET 2.0 there isn’t. It looks like .NET 4.0 will follow the same pattern. After double-checking with the CLR Debugging Team, there is no difference at all.

What controls whether the JITter does a debug build is the /optimize switch. <…>

The bottom line is that you want to build your release builds with /optimize+ and any of the /debug switches so you can debug with source code.

then he goes on to prove it.

Now the optimization is part of a separate switch /optimize (in visual studio it is called Optimize code).

In short, irrespective of DebugInfo setting pdb-only or full, we will have same results. The recommendation is to avoid None since it would deprive you of being able to analyze the crash dumps from released product or attaching debugger.