Q:

Do you have to deploy the .pdb file with compiling under release?

Do you have to deploy the .pdb file with compiling under release?
Why does it even compile a .pdb when you do a release build anyway?

A:

No you do not need to deploy them.
As to why they are even built in release.  A PDB file really has a couple of uses but the primary ones (at least for me) are 

Debugging
Profiling

Both of these tasks are validly done on release binaries which is why release builds include a PDB.  In fact, when debugging Watson dumps it's 100% of the time against a release build.  Without a PDB I would have to resort to looking through dissasembly :( 

A:

You don't have to deploy and distribute the PDB files along with your binaries.
However, I suggest that you keep them (and eventually index them) to be able to analyze any dump files that clients, QA, and support people send you. This way, you will be able to have comprehensible stack traces and symbol information.

A:

If you want, you can also turn the PDB file generation off in the compile options.

