# microsoft/microsoft-pdb

Information from Microsoft about the PDB format.  We'll try to keep this up to date. Just trying to help the CLANG/LLVM community get onto Windows.

Repository: https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-pdb
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/microsoft-pdb
Language: C++
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Archived: true
Last push: 2023-04-27T22:36:05+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3961, "days_push": 1224, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, archived, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1933, forks 282 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:56.315612+00:00)

## What it is
Microsoft's reference source code and documentation for the PDB (Program Database) debug symbol file format, intended to help alternative compilers like Clang/LLVM emit PDBs on Windows. The repository has been archived and is no longer updated or accepting PRs.

## Use cases
- understand the PDB symbol file binary format
- write a PDB file generator for a custom compiler
- parse Windows debug symbols without DIA
- port Clang/LLVM tooling to Windows debugging
- verify a generated PDB is well-formed
- reverse-engineer mscorpdb.dll stream abstractions

## When to choose
- you need low-level, source-level documentation of the PDB format
- you are building a compiler or linker that must emit PDBs on Windows
- you want to parse or validate PDB files outside Microsoft's DIA API

## When to avoid
- you need a maintained, production-ready PDB library
- you only need to read PDBs and can use the official DIA SDK
- you expect upstream support or bug fixes

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: abandoned
- function: parser, developer-tools, documentation
- domain: developer-tools, compilers, windows
- platform: windows, cpp
- tags: pdb-format, debug-symbols, clang-llvm, reference-source, archived, debugging

## Member repositories
- microsoft/microsoft-pdb (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:56.315612+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:08:34.384742+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-pdb (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:56.315612+00:00, sha c9c6823119a7)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.