How do I generate .dSYM for MonoTouch app in Simulator?

Question

I want to profile a MonoTouch application in Instruments without an iPad. I am able to profile an app compiled for Simulator but it's no fun without the symbols:

There is no option to generate IPA with dSYM in project build settings—looks like they're only available when compiling for the device.

All I want is a MonoTouch-aware dSYM for Simulator.
Is this possible?

Answer 1

This is unfortunately not possible, because in the simulator we JIT managed code. This means that it is not possible to know before executing the process where methods will be in memory, and Instruments doesn't support the required mechanisms for MonoTouch to inform about JIT'ed methods at runtime [1].

[1] See last comment on the response here: Is it possible to notify DTrace on Mac OS X of dynamically generated code?

Answer 2

Take a look at this - miguel wrote a blog post recently to compile aot for profiling on mac - I think this will give you what you're looking for:

Using Instruments to profile Mac apps built with Mono