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Levels of Debugging Support (Windows CE 5.0)

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When you create an OS design, the IDE creates a Debug configuration and a Release configuration of the OS design and sets build options for each configuration.

The level of support for debugging in a default Debug configuration differs from the level of support for debugging in a default Release configuration. The choice of build options in a configuration determines the level of debugging support in the run-time image that you build.

The following table shows the level of debugging support in the default configurations provided by Platform Builder.

Configuration Description
Debug
  • Uses .lib files from %_WINCEROOT%\Public\Common\Oak\Lib\<CPU>\Debug.
  • Places object files in directories named Debug.
  • Provides full symbolic debugging information, in Microsoft format.
  • Provides the ability to turn debug zones on and off.
  • No optimization. Optimization generally makes debugging more difficult.
  • Sets the environment variable WINCEDEBUG=debug.

For more information, see Building a Run-Time Image From a Debug Configuration.
Release
  • Uses .lib files from %_WINCEROOT%\Public\Common\Oak\Lib\<CPU>\Retail.
  • Places object files in directories named Retail.
  • Provides no symbolic debugging information.
  • Optimized for speed.
  • Has a smaller run-time image than the run-time image built from the Debug configuration of the same OS design.
  • Sets the environment variable WINCEDEBUG=retail.

For more information, see Building a Run-Time Image From a Release Configuration and Using the Kernel Debugger with a Run-Time Image Built From a Release Configuration.

For information about mixing debug and release bits in your run-time image, see Combining Debug and Release Bits.

For information about environment variables that you can set for a configuration, see Platform Settings: Build Options Tab.

See Also

Compiler and Linker Options for Debugging

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