Can I still symbolicate a distribution build that stripped its debug symbols?
debugging, ios7, iphone, objective-c, xcode
Solution
When you create an Archive (Build > Archive), the archive bundle will have a folder called dSYMS that contain `dSYM` file(s) (debug symbols file) for your application and other linked libraries. This means you can strip debug symbols from your products but keep the `dSYM` files to symbolicate crash reports. This post has more information on how to use the `atos` tool to symbolicate a crash report provided that you have the app binary and `dSYM` files.
In general, Debug builds have Strip Debug Symbols During Copy set to `NO`, and Release builds have it set to `YES` to reduce the binary size.
Problem
I have two related questions actually: If I want to be able to symbolicate crash logs from a distribution build (that is, a build I gave to someone to beta test my application - not one that is already in the appstore), should I disable the `"Strip Linked Product"` and `"Strip Debug Symbols During Copy"` options for debug or for release? In fact, would it cause any kind of problem is I disable both of them forever (even in my appstore submission)? If I distributed a build to a beta tester, but it had enabled the `"Strip Linked Product"` and `"Strip Debug Symbols During Copy"` options, is there still a way to symbolicate their crash logs?