diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index e1cd54d54db39245dcdcadb4916229bc74123b28..2a787188cd26d9712a7f137c1a8f24357d8978b6 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -209,6 +209,34 @@ inkscape:windows:
     paths:
       - build/inkscape*.${DIST}
 
+inkscape:windows-pdb:
+  extends: .windows
+  timeout: 3h
+  retry: 2
+  when: manual
+  script:
+    # configure with CMake
+    - . "C:/$Env:IDW_NAME/msys2_shell.cmd" -defterm -no-start -ucrt64 -here -c `
+          "cmake -B build -G Ninja `
+           -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=ccache `
+           -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=ccache `
+           -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo `
+           -DENABLE_PDB=ON"
+    # Kill the job before hitting runner's timeout. This way we can preserve the cache so the next retry
+    # will be able to advance the build further and eventually finish (after up to two retries, 3 jobs in total).
+    # Calculation is:  20 minutes for download and extraction of msys2
+    #                  80 minutes build (4800 seconds, see 'sleep' below)
+    #                  20 minutes as buffer and save cache
+    #                 --- --------------------------------
+    #                 120 minutes runner timeout
+    - Start-Job -ScriptBlock{sleep 4800; taskkill /t /F /IM "ninja.exe"}
+    # build with Ninja
+    - . "C:/$Env:IDW_NAME/msys2_shell.cmd" -defterm -no-start -ucrt64 -here -c `
+          "ninja -C build dist-win-7z"
+  artifacts:
+    paths:
+      - build/inkscape*.7z
+
 #tests, always run after building
 test:linux:
   stage: test
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c64887a8c340073b7fdeba068e170e878a8f90bf..ece7130fba11e7d6ccf33275cade528c9e396137 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -107,6 +107,9 @@ option(WITH_LPETOOL "Compile with LPE Tool" OFF)
 option(LPE_ENABLE_TEST_EFFECTS "Compile with test experimental LPEs enabled" OFF)
 option(WITH_PROFILING "Turn on profiling" OFF) # Set to true if compiler/linker should enable profiling
 option(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "Compile libraries as shared and not static" ON)
+if (WIN32)
+  option(ENABLE_PDB "Generate debug symbols in PDB format (Windows only)" OFF)
+endif()
 
 option(WITH_POPPLER "Compile with support of libpoppler" ON)
 option(ENABLE_POPPLER_CAIRO "Compile with support of libpoppler-cairo for rendering PDF preview (depends on WITH_POPPLER)" ON)
@@ -286,6 +289,9 @@ message("WITH_X11:                ${WITH_X11}")
 
 message("WITH_PROFILING:          ${WITH_PROFILING}")
 message("BUILD_TESTING:           ${BUILD_TESTING}")
+if(WIN32)
+message("ENABLE_PDB:              ${ENABLE_PDB}")
+endif()
 
 if(WIN32)
 message("")
diff --git a/CMakeScripts/DefineDependsandFlags.cmake b/CMakeScripts/DefineDependsandFlags.cmake
index 81cc8514aa70e23605867c8369646e4d16d647cf..b18d59bf96a80c7f31019f5292752af713de0e8a 100644
--- a/CMakeScripts/DefineDependsandFlags.cmake
+++ b/CMakeScripts/DefineDependsandFlags.cmake
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ if (CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCC)
         list(APPEND INKSCAPE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "-fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection")
     endif()
 endif()
+if (WIN32 AND ENABLE_PDB)
+    set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -gcodeview")
+    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -gcodeview")
+    add_link_options(-Wl,--pdb=)
+endif()
 
 # Define the flags for profiling if desired:
 if(WITH_PROFILING)
diff --git a/CMakeScripts/Dist.cmake b/CMakeScripts/Dist.cmake
index e7e68327b28a2347685a3a242fdc58db3fc27abd..064dd8e0dbb228cf661c37ca21c70ca1c418b756 100644
--- a/CMakeScripts/Dist.cmake
+++ b/CMakeScripts/Dist.cmake
@@ -60,8 +60,13 @@ if(WIN32)
                       "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${INKSCAPE_DIST_PREFIX}.7z"
                       "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}")
 
-    add_dependencies(dist-win-7z install/strip)
-    add_dependencies(dist-win-7z-fast install/strip)
+    if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE_UPPER STREQUAL "DEBUG" OR CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE_UPPER STREQUAL "RELWITHDEBINFO")
+        add_dependencies(dist-win-7z install)
+        add_dependencies(dist-win-7z-fast install)
+    else()
+        add_dependencies(dist-win-7z install/strip)
+        add_dependencies(dist-win-7z-fast install/strip)
+    endif()
 
     # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # 'dist-win-exe' - generate .exe installer (NSIS) for Windows
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 6e620d538e88be76fb5aa0c52863e0a624ffa230..258a29c347c65d657cb115a663fc30410aab6e09 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -442,6 +442,11 @@ install(TARGETS inkscape inkview RUNTIME DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
 if(WIN32)
     install(TARGETS inkscape_com)
     install(TARGETS inkview_com)
+    if (ENABLE_PDB)
+        file(GLOB PDBS
+             ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin/*.pdb)
+        install(FILES ${PDBS} DESTINATION bin)
+    endif()
 endif()
 if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
     install(TARGETS inkscape_base LIBRARY DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/inkscape")