Visual C++ 2008 'Release' build contains debug information

Question

I\'ve noticed that when generating a new C++ project using MS Visual Studio 2008, the Release build contains debugging symbols - specifically the following

Answer 1

Having these options on do not necessarily make your executables bigger. Debug information is stored in a separate file, with the extension PDB. Having debug information available is never a bad idea, unless you're really really short on free storage space.

Perhaps that's why they're on by default: they don't harm your executables. Release builds do use optimizations such as function inlining and generating optimized code, which makes it harder to step through, while Debug builds have these options turned off.

No downside here.

Dave