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Feedback Functionality to turn off "symbols.zip" generation

Discussion in 'Android' started by Peter77, May 28, 2019.

  1. Peter77

    Peter77

    QA Jesus

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    Please add functionality to turn off generation/zipping of the symbols file. In many cases I don't need it and if I can save 30 seconds by disabling it, that would be very useful to me.

    I use a custom build pipeline, thus I need an editor API to turn symbols.zip generatiotn on/off via code.

    If I build with il2cpp, Unity generates a symbols.zip file, which is great and much appreciated.

    However, can I turn the zip step off somehow? I want to turn it off for "quick builds", to save a few seconds when doing a build locally.
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2019
  2. Yury-Habets

    Yury-Habets

    Unity Technologies

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    Unfortunately there is no such feature at the moment.
     
  3. Tomas1856

    Tomas1856

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    JustAnotherDude likes this.
  4. Peter77

    Peter77

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    Thanks for the quick replies!

    AppPatching sounds interesting, but we're using 2018.4 and don't want to risk an upgrade to a newer version at this point of time.

    According to the AppPatching documentation, it patches code only, but no assets?!
     
    JustAnotherDude likes this.
  5. Yury-Habets

    Yury-Habets

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    That's correct (as of now), but @Tomas1856 may have further plans on extending it. :)
     
  6. Nairda_Draziw

    Nairda_Draziw

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    Agreeing with Tomas1856, since we switched to IL2CPP in order to be complaint with Google requirement for 64 bit architecture support, our build time has significantly increased, thus making it harder to debug the game on Android device. Please, consider adding an option to disable this behavior.
     
  7. maormenashe

    maormenashe

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    +1
    Please add a feature to disable "symbols.zip" generation.
     
  8. viruseg

    viruseg

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    I support. This file is not needed in 99% of cases.
     
    nsmith1024 and junior1nf0 like this.
  9. bdovaz

    bdovaz

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    +1

    40mb APK and 1.6GB symbols... I don't want that file and that extra build time...
     
    Nodrap, path14 and junior1nf0 like this.
  10. Irina-uk

    Irina-uk

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    Please tell me why we need the created file symbols.zip?
     
  11. Peter77

    Peter77

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    Symbols containing a list of all managed function addresses and their lengths. IL2CPP needs this to resolve managed stack traces. If you delete it, your game will still run but exceptions will not produce sensible call stacks.
    https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/WindowsPlayerIL2CPPBuildProducedFiles.html

    When you are debugging an (native) application that has crashed, the debugger attempts to show you the functions on the stack that led up to the crash. Without a symbols file, the debugger can not resolve the function names, their parameters, or any local variables that are stored on the stack.
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dxtecharts/debugging-with-symbols

    It's useful to keep the symbols file for any version you release or send to a QA for example. However, for quick local builds, you often don't need it.
     
  12. Hobodi

    Hobodi

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    I join, I would also like the opportunity to select a directory for symbols.
     
  13. Sam-Sproutel

    Sam-Sproutel

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    Great explanation! Thanks! Any links/tips on tools to use for opening these?
     
  14. Peter77

    Peter77

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  15. KVinS

    KVinS

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    +1
    I will be glad of the opportunity not to generate it.
     
    nsmith1024 likes this.
  16. Duobix

    Duobix

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    @Yury-Habets @Tomas1856
    I'd be ultra glad to at least having an option not to generate those,
    and It'd be even better if there was a piece of official documentation
    regarding how to use those (by example, of course).
     
  17. sschilp

    sschilp

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    +1
    Options to have more control over when to generate them and when not would be really appreciated.
    Especially when do actual debugging or crash reporting is planned but you are doing some iterations on visuals or gameplay, symbols are not needed at all.
     
  18. FauconSpartiate

    FauconSpartiate

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    I think the most people don't need this big folder...
    Unity, please do something...
     
  19. PlanarBit

    PlanarBit

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    +1
    I can't believe such productivity destroyer still exists.
    Unity, Android app patching only slightly mitigates this issue. Of course I can be mistaken, but "making symbol generation optional" doesn't sound like a lot of work.
     
  20. snowinrain

    snowinrain

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    +1
    Disabling symbol zip file generation will reduce a lot of build time. Hopefully Unity will release the functionality soon
     
  21. jason_yak

    jason_yak

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    Has anyone had any luck figuring out how to upload and use IL2CPP symbols to Google Play? it caps out at 200mb. I think perhaps Google Play is expecting ProGuard symbols only, but I really need to be able to symbolicate some stack traces using the IL2CPP symbols :(
     
  22. Tarragona3d

    Tarragona3d

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    +1
    Pleaseeee,.
     
  23. TitanUnity

    TitanUnity

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    Yea I see Google Play is looking for ProGuard symbols, but is there a place to upload symbols.zip that would give us more context than what is already available in Android Vitals?
     
  24. ernesb

    ernesb

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    +1 How many bumps that is needed for unity officials to finally consider this?
     
    path14 likes this.
  25. JasonAppxplore

    JasonAppxplore

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    Yes, we need this please.
     
  26. thiagolrosa

    thiagolrosa

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  27. bdovaz

    bdovaz

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  28. ForsisStudio

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  29. Tashkin

    Tashkin

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    We need an option to remove the symbols... 1gb file for something we don't need.
     
  30. TudorMaximilian

    TudorMaximilian

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    Do we need to upload the symbols.zip to Play Store Console? I uploaded it as an expansion patch :))
     
  31. Yury-Habets

    Yury-Habets

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    No that's information intended for a developer, to better troubleshoot issues. No need to deliver it to the end user.
     
    protopop likes this.
  32. Peter77

    Peter77

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    Do you know if Google provides functionality to upload these symbols, so tracked crashes in the Google Dashboard (or Unity Analytics?) will have richer stacktraces, including line numbers for example?
     
  33. Yury-Habets

    Yury-Habets

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    I think Google services only take care of Java crashes and not native ones.
    Unity Performance Service https://unity3d.com/unity/features/cloud-diagnostics does everything automatically - parses the symbols, stores them on the servers and uses to symbolicate crashes.
     
  34. Percy-Pea

    Percy-Pea

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    +1 pleaseeeee
     
  35. Mikhail007

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  36. JuliusM

    JuliusM

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    =12 we are working on this.
     
  37. SpaceRay

    SpaceRay

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    YES!! It would be very good that there should be a way to disable the symbols.zip creation as it takes 1.6 GB and I do not do any debug so I do not need it, and also for quick tests is not needed either, and it also I think that takes more time to build to create this file

    I am using Unity 2019.2

    I agree, with you that I also do not want that file generated, and is a huge file that I have to delete, and I think that it takes extra build time
     
  38. hippogames

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    +1 I don't need debug symbols and I don't want to store a lot of archives 1GB each =(((((((((
     
  39. Korolev

    Korolev

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    +100500
     
  40. Bumblebee77

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  41. darasan

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  42. FurySven

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  43. stipe1995

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  44. alex1st1

    alex1st1

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    +100500.00
     
    nsmith1024 likes this.
  45. Churs

    Churs

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  46. Firemaw

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  47. Davood_Kharmanzar

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  48. amosphere

    amosphere

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  49. Plundergamesdev

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  50. dm_bond

    dm_bond

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    2020.1.0a9
    Android: Allow to disable symbols.zip generation when building apk or aab.
     
    waldgeist likes this.