STRIP(1) GNU Development Tools STRIP(1)
NAME
strip - Discard symbols from object files.
SYNOPSIS
strip [-F bfdname |--target=bfdname]
[-I bfdname |--input-target=bfdname]
[-O bfdname |--output-target=bfdname]
[-s|--strip-all]
[-S|-g|-d|--strip-debug]
[--strip-dwo]
[-K symbolname |--keep-symbol=symbolname]
[-N symbolname |--strip-symbol=symbolname]
[-w|--wildcard]
[-x|--discard-all] [-X |--discard-locals]
[-R sectionname |--remove-section=sectionname]
[-o file] [-p|--preserve-dates]
[-D|--enable-deterministic-archives]
[-U|--disable-deterministic-archives]
[--keep-file-symbols]
[--only-keep-debug]
[-v |--verbose] [-V|--version]
[--help] [--info]
objfile...
DESCRIPTION
GNU strip discards all symbols from object files objfile. The list of object files may include archives. At
least one object file must be given.
strip modifies the files named in its argument, rather than writing modified copies under different names.
OPTIONS
-F bfdname
--target=bfdname
Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format bfdname, and rewrite it in the same
format.
--help
Show a summary of the options to strip and exit.
--info
Display a list showing all architectures and object formats available.
-I bfdname
--input-target=bfdname
Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format bfdname.
-O bfdname
--output-target=bfdname
Replace objfile with a file in the output format bfdname.
-R sectionname
--remove-section=sectionname
Remove any section named sectionname from the output file. This option may be given more than once. Note
that using this option inappropriately may make the output file unusable. The wildcard character * may be
given at the end of sectionname. If so, then any section starting with sectionname will be removed.
intact. See the description of this option in the objcopy section for more information.
--strip-unneeded
Remove all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing.
-K symbolname
--keep-symbol=symbolname
When stripping symbols, keep symbol symbolname even if it would normally be stripped. This option may be
given more than once.
-N symbolname
--strip-symbol=symbolname
Remove symbol symbolname from the source file. This option may be given more than once, and may be
combined with strip options other than -K.
-o file
Put the stripped output in file, rather than replacing the existing file. When this argument is used,
only one objfile argument may be specified.
-p
--preserve-dates
Preserve the access and modification dates of the file.
-D
--enable-deterministic-archives
Operate in deterministic mode. When copying archive members and writing the archive index, use zero for
UIDs, GIDs, timestamps, and use consistent file modes for all files.
If binutils was configured with --enable-deterministic-archives, then this mode is on by default. It can
be disabled with the -U option, below.
-U
--disable-deterministic-archives
Do not operate in deterministic mode. This is the inverse of the -D option, above: when copying archive
members and writing the archive index, use their actual UID, GID, timestamp, and file mode values.
This is the default unless binutils was configured with --enable-deterministic-archives.
-w
--wildcard
Permit regular expressions in symbolnames used in other command line options. The question mark (?),
asterisk (*), backslash (\) and square brackets ([]) operators can be used anywhere in the symbol name.
If the first character of the symbol name is the exclamation point (!) then the sense of the switch is
reversed for that symbol. For example:
-w -K !foo -K fo*
would cause strip to only keep symbols that start with the letters "fo", but to discard the symbol "foo".
-x
--discard-all
Remove non-global symbols.
-X
part executable. One a stripped binary which will occupy less space in RAM and in a distribution and the
second a debugging information file which is only needed if debugging abilities are required. The
suggested procedure to create these files is as follows:
1.<Link the executable as normal. Assuming that is is called>
"foo" then...
1.<Run "objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg" to>
create a file containing the debugging info.
1.<Run "objcopy --strip-debug foo" to create a>
stripped executable.
1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.dbg foo">
to add a link to the debugging info into the stripped executable.
Note---the choice of ".dbg" as an extension for the debug info file is arbitrary. Also the
"--only-keep-debug" step is optional. You could instead do this:
1.<Link the executable as normal.>
1.<Copy "foo" to "foo.full">
1.<Run "strip --strip-debug foo">
1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.full foo">
i.e., the file pointed to by the --add-gnu-debuglink can be the full executable. It does not have to be a
file created by the --only-keep-debug switch.
Note---this switch is only intended for use on fully linked files. It does not make sense to use it on
object files where the debugging information may be incomplete. Besides the gnu_debuglink feature
currently only supports the presence of one filename containing debugging information, not multiple
filenames on a one-per-object-file basis.
-V
--version
Show the version number for strip.
-v
--verbose
Verbose output: list all object files modified. In the case of archives, strip -v lists all members of
the archive.
@file
Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted in place of the original @file option.
If file does not exist, or cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not removed.
Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace character may be included in an option by
surrounding the entire option in either single or double quotes. Any character (including a backslash)
may be included by prefixing the character to be included with a backslash. The file may itself contain
additional @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
SEE ALSO
the Info entries for binutils.
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