A new mode for working with debug PDB files was experimentally tested in the Cpu-View project (an alternative Asm debugger for Lazarus).

During development, the main problem to be solved was the dependency on dbghlp.dll and symsrv.dll.

The standard dbghlp.dll shipped with the operating system has minimal functionality and does not allow full-featured work with debug symbols — for that, its counterpart from the Windows SDK is required.

For this reason, work with the MSF container (the format in which PDB is stored) was implemented manually, using a custom-written parser that requires no external dependencies and works with PDB in RAW mode.

The second problem that needed solving was that Microsoft stopped releasing debug symbols as installation packages, and all it now provides is symsrv.dll, which works via an external MSIL reference to a symbol server.

As part of this task, utility code was developed that supports working with local symbol stores as well as a network component supporting external network servers, which made it possible to get rid of the dependency on symsrv.dll.

As a result, PDB support provides more debugging information when working in the area of system libraries
 

This mechanism will soon be integrated into Process Memory Map, along with an additional component that handles maintenance of local symbol stores — clearing out outdated PDB files and keeping the current ones up to date.

You can learn more about the project at the following link
https://github.com/AlexanderBagel/CPUView