What's the difference between Debug and Release?

Since I need to dotfuscate my exe file anyway, does it make any
difference if I use Debug or Release versions. Would a Debug
version be easier to decompile/study/reverse engineer than a
Release version, both having been dotfuscated by the standard
dotfuscator of visual studio 2003 ?

Tia

[SQLScott]

Guy,

Your best bet is to go with the Release version. From the Help file:

"Dotfuscato r removes debug information and non-essential metadata from a
MSIL file as it processes it. Aside from enhancing protection and security,
this also contributes to the size-reduction of MSIL files."

Hope this answers your question.

Scott

"guy" wrote:

Since I need to dotfuscate my exe file anyway, does it make any
difference if I use Debug or Release versions. Would a Debug
version be easier to decompile/study/reverse engineer than a
Release version, both having been dotfuscated by the standard
dotfuscator of visual studio 2003 ?

Tia

> Your best bet is to go with the Release version. From the Help file:

"Dotfuscato r removes debug information and non-essential metadata from a
MSIL file as it processes it. Aside from enhancing protection and security, this also contributes to the size-reduction of MSIL files."

The Release version is 36k
The Debug version is 24k

Size actually increases in the release version.

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Guy,

The Release version is 36k
The Debug version is 24k

That's interesting, I've only seen the size decrease from Debug to Release
builds, are you certain you did not flip the numbers or looking at an early
build of one of the assemblies?

For example a Windows Service I am currently working on:

Windows Service: Release=48KB, Debug=52KB, about 8% decrease
Class Library: Release=56KB, Debug=60KB, about 7% decrease
Windows App: Release=196KB, Debug=204KB, about 4% decrease

Which makes sense, as among other things, the VB.NET compiler actually adds
extra NOP IL instructions to allow setting break points on VB statements,
that normally you could not break on. These NOPs are not written in Release
builds. You can use ILDASM.exe to see the differences in the IL created
between Debug & Release builds...

Hope this helps
Jay
<guy> wrote in message news:OU******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP09.phx.gbl...

Your best bet is to go with the Release version. From the Help file:

"Dotfuscato r removes debug information and non-essential metadata from a
MSIL file as it processes it. Aside from enhancing protection and

security,

this also contributes to the size-reduction of MSIL files."

The Release version is 36k
The Debug version is 24k

Size actually increases in the release version.