When should I include PDB files for a production release? Should I use the Optimize code flag and how would that affect the information I get from an exception?
If there is a noticeable performance benefit I would want to use the optimizations but if not I'd rather have accurate debugging info. What is typically done for a production app?
When you want to see source filenames and line numbers in your stacktraces, generate PDBs using the pdb-only option. Optimization is separate from PDB generation, i.e. you can optimize and generate PDBs without a performance hit.
From the C# Language Reference
If you use /debug:full, be aware that there is some impact on the speed and size of JIT optimized code and a small impact on code quality with /debug:full. We recommend /debug:pdbonly or no PDB for generating release code.