Share via

What is the modern workflow for dbghelp.dll?

M B 11 Reputation points
2021-02-10T21:39:40.793+00:00

Hey,
The documentation for dbghelp states: "When using DbgHelp, the best strategy is to install a copy of the library from the Debugging Tools For Windows package in the application directory logically adjacent to the software that calls it."
However, the license information for the latest Debugger Tools states that we can only distribute "X64 Debuggers And Tools-x64_en-us.msi". Previous debugger tools explicitly stated we could ship dbghelp.dll. Shipping that installer isn't useful, since we don't want to be installing that on end-user's machines.

The other catch is that it seems like there is an interaction between dbghelp dbgcore and dbgeng that isn't entirely clear. However I think in some cases dbgeng is trying to use symbols in dbghelp that may not exist, if I'm shipping with an older dbghelp version. dbgeng will try to use the dbghelp that's in my application directory due to .dll search path rules, instead of the one that it needs in System32.

In my case I only need dbghelp for minidump creation reasons, Windows 8.1 and 10 support only. Is it safe to just not ship dbghelp.dll now, and assume the OS will have what I need in it's installed version?

Windows API - Win32
Windows API - Win32
A core set of Windows application programming interfaces (APIs) for desktop and server applications. Previously known as Win32 API.
2,675 questions

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. M B 11 Reputation points
    2021-02-11T03:11:09.113+00:00

    I guess? It's to do with how to use the SDK and debugging tools though. How would I contact the license team? Is there another forum for that. Thanks

    1 person found this answer helpful.

Your answer

Answers can be marked as Accepted Answers by the question author, which helps users to know the answer solved the author's problem.