1STRIP(1) GNU Development Tools STRIP(1)
2
6 strip - Discard symbols from object files.
7
9 strip [-F bfdname ⎪--target=bfdname]
10 [-I bfdname ⎪--input-target=bfdname]
11 [-O bfdname ⎪--output-target=bfdname]
12 [-s⎪--strip-all]
13 [-S⎪-g⎪-d⎪--strip-debug]
14 [-K symbolname ⎪--keep-symbol=symbolname]
15 [-N symbolname ⎪--strip-symbol=symbolname]
16 [-w⎪--wildcard]
17 [-x⎪--discard-all] [-X ⎪--discard-locals]
18 [-R sectionname ⎪--remove-section=sectionname]
19 [-o file] [-p⎪--preserve-dates]
20 [--keep-file-symbols]
21 [--only-keep-debug]
22 [-v ⎪--verbose] [-V⎪--version]
23 [--help] [--info]
24 objfile...
25
27 GNU strip discards all symbols from object files objfile. The list of
28 object files may include archives. At least one object file must be
29 given.
30 strip modifies the files named in its argument, rather than writing
32 modified copies under different names.
33
35 -F bfdname
36 --target=bfdname
37 Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format
38 bfdname, and rewrite it in the same format.
39 --help
41 Show a summary of the options to strip and exit.
42 --info
44 Display a list showing all architectures and object formats avail‐
45 able.
46 -I bfdname
48 --input-target=bfdname
49 Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format
50 bfdname.
51 -O bfdname
53 --output-target=bfdname
54 Replace objfile with a file in the output format bfdname.
55 -R sectionname
57 --remove-section=sectionname
58 Remove any section named sectionname from the output file. This
59 option may be given more than once. Note that using this option
60 inappropriately may make the output file unusable.
61 -s
63 --strip-all
64 Remove all symbols.
65 -g
67 -S
68 -d
69 --strip-debug
70 Remove debugging symbols only.
71 --strip-unneeded
73 Remove all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing.
74 -K symbolname
76 --keep-symbol=symbolname
77 When stripping symbols, keep symbol symbolname even if it would
78 normally be stripped. This option may be given more than once.
79 -N symbolname
81 --strip-symbol=symbolname
82 Remove symbol symbolname from the source file. This option may be
83 given more than once, and may be combined with strip options other
84 than -K.
85 -o file
87 Put the stripped output in file, rather than replacing the existing
88 file. When this argument is used, only one objfile argument may be
89 specified.
90 -p
92 --preserve-dates
93 Preserve the access and modification dates of the file.
94 -w
96 --wildcard
97 Permit regular expressions in symbolnames used in other command
98 line options. The question mark (?), asterisk (*), backslash (\)
99 and square brackets ([]) operators can be used anywhere in the sym‐
100 bol name. If the first character of the symbol name is the excla‐
101 mation point (!) then the sense of the switch is reversed for that
102 symbol. For example:
103 -w -K !foo -K fo*
105 would cause strip to only keep symbols that start with the letters
107 "fo", but to discard the symbol "foo".
108 -x
110 --discard-all
111 Remove non-global symbols.
112 -X
114 --discard-locals
115 Remove compiler-generated local symbols. (These usually start with
116 L or ..)
117 --keep-file-symbols
119 When stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or
120 --strip-unneeded, retain any symbols specifying source file names,
121 which would otherwise get stripped.
122 --only-keep-debug
124 Strip a file, removing contents of any sections that would not be
125 stripped by --strip-debug and leaving the debugging sections
126 intact. In ELF files, this preserves all note sections in the out‐
127 put.
128 The intention is that this option will be used in conjunction with
130 --add-gnu-debuglink to create a two part executable. One a
131 stripped binary which will occupy less space in RAM and in a dis‐
132 tribution and the second a debugging information file which is only
133 needed if debugging abilities are required. The suggested proce‐
134 dure to create these files is as follows:
135 1.<Link the executable as normal. Assuming that is is called>
137 "foo" then...
138 1.<Run "objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg" to>
140 create a file containing the debugging info.
141 1.<Run "objcopy --strip-debug foo" to create a>
143 stripped executable.
144 1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.dbg foo">
146 to add a link to the debugging info into the stripped exe‐
147 cutable.
148 Note---the choice of ".dbg" as an extension for the debug info file
150 is arbitrary. Also the "--only-keep-debug" step is optional. You
151 could instead do this:
152 1.<Link the executable as normal.>
154 1.<Copy "foo" to "foo.full">
155 1.<Run "strip --strip-debug foo">
156 1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.full foo">
157 i.e., the file pointed to by the --add-gnu-debuglink can be the
159 full executable. It does not have to be a file created by the
160 --only-keep-debug switch.
161 Note---this switch is only intended for use on fully linked files.
163 It does not make sense to use it on object files where the debug‐
164 ging information may be incomplete. Besides the gnu_debuglink fea‐
165 ture currently only supports the presence of one filename contain‐
166 ing debugging information, not multiple filenames on a one-per-
167 object-file basis.
168 -V
170 --version
171 Show the version number for strip.
172 -v
174 --verbose
175 Verbose output: list all object files modified. In the case of ar‐
176 chives, strip -v lists all members of the archive.
177 @file
179 Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted
180 in place of the original @file option. If file does not exist, or
181 cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
182 removed.
183 Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace charac‐
185 ter may be included in an option by surrounding the entire option
186 in either single or double quotes. Any character (including a
187 backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
188 included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional
189 @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
190
192 the Info entries for binutils.
193
195 Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
196 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software
197 Foundation, Inc.
198 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
200 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
201 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
202 Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
203 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
204 Free Documentation License".
205binutils-2.18.90 2008-09-10 STRIP(1)