title: Convert DBG into PDB?
body: <p>i have a Win32 compiler which, for years, has been able to create a <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/da528y14.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DBG debug information file</a>.</p>
  
  <p>This has allowed debuggers, and tools like <strong>Process Explorer</strong> and <strong>Process Monitor</strong> to have access to symbol information:</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3XWWE.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
  
  <p>i recently learned that Visual Studio's debugger no longer accepts DBG files, only undocumented <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yd4f8bd1%28v=vs.71%29.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>Program Database</strong> (PDB)</a> files:</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/2omhL.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
  
  <p>Since Microsoft keeps the PDB format <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6374153/what-is-the-structure-of-a-pdb-file">secret</a>, i assume they have a tool that will allow me to convert existing debugging information to a PDB (so i don't learn the secrets of their file format).</p>
  
  <h2>Bonus Reading</h2>
  
  <ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.dsource.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4933&amp;sid=bf404eb86c3d23d4e20377e8e739d1d3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">cv2pdb: how to use to convert other debug formats to pdb?</a></li>
  </ul>
  
  <h1>Undocumented</h1>
  
  <p>Even though Microsoft has a GitHub repository for PDB, the spec remains completely undocumented. The files on their repository are incomplete. There are missing types and declarations. </p>
  
  <p>And even though i've created a PDBViewer:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tbwam.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tbwam.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>It doesn't <strong>get</strong> me anything - because Microsoft doesn't explain what any of it <strong>means</strong>.</p>
  
  <p>The point isn't just to look at a PDB - we need to <strong>create</strong> one. And for that we need to know:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>what goes in it</li>
  <li>where</li>
  <li>and what format</li>
  </ul>