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 [--strip-dwo]
15 [-K symbolname|--keep-symbol=symbolname]
16 [-M|--merge-notes][--no-merge-notes]
17 [-N symbolname |--strip-symbol=symbolname]
18 [-w|--wildcard]
19 [-x|--discard-all] [-X |--discard-locals]
20 [-R sectionname |--remove-section=sectionname]
21 [--remove-relocations=sectionpattern]
22 [-o file] [-p|--preserve-dates]
23 [-D|--enable-deterministic-archives]
24 [-U|--disable-deterministic-archives]
25 [--keep-file-symbols]
26 [--only-keep-debug]
27 [-v |--verbose] [-V|--version]
28 [--help] [--info]
29 objfile...
30
32 GNU strip discards all symbols from object files objfile. The list of
33 object files may include archives. At least one object file must be
34 given.
35 strip modifies the files named in its argument, rather than writing
37 modified copies under different names.
38
40 -F bfdname
41 --target=bfdname
42 Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format
43 bfdname, and rewrite it in the same format.
44 --help
46 Show a summary of the options to strip and exit.
47 --info
49 Display a list showing all architectures and object formats
50 available.
51 -I bfdname
53 --input-target=bfdname
54 Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format
55 bfdname.
56 -O bfdname
58 --output-target=bfdname
59 Replace objfile with a file in the output format bfdname.
60 -R sectionname
62 --remove-section=sectionname
63 Remove any section named sectionname from the output file, in
64 addition to whatever sections would otherwise be removed. This
65 option may be given more than once. Note that using this option
66 inappropriately may make the output file unusable. The wildcard
67 character * may be given at the end of sectionname. If so, then
68 any section starting with sectionname will be removed.
69 If the first character of sectionpattern is the exclamation point
71 (!) then matching sections will not be removed even if an earlier
72 use of --remove-section on the same command line would otherwise
73 remove it. For example:
74 --remove-section=.text.* --remove-section=!.text.foo
76 will remove all sections matching the pattern '.text.*', but will
78 not remove the section '.text.foo'.
79 --remove-relocations=sectionpattern
81 Remove relocations from the output file for any section matching
82 sectionpattern. This option may be given more than once. Note
83 that using this option inappropriately may make the output file
84 unusable. Wildcard characters are accepted in sectionpattern. For
85 example:
86 --remove-relocations=.text.*
88 will remove the relocations for all sections matching the patter
90 '.text.*'.
91 If the first character of sectionpattern is the exclamation point
93 (!) then matching sections will not have their relocation removed
94 even if an earlier use of --remove-relocations on the same command
95 line would otherwise cause the relocations to be removed. For
96 example:
97 --remove-relocations=.text.* --remove-relocations=!.text.foo
99 will remove all relocations for sections matching the pattern
101 '.text.*', but will not remove relocations for the section
102 '.text.foo'.
103 -s
105 --strip-all
106 Remove all symbols.
107 -g
109 -S
110 -d
111 --strip-debug
112 Remove debugging symbols only.
113 --strip-dwo
115 Remove the contents of all DWARF .dwo sections, leaving the
116 remaining debugging sections and all symbols intact. See the
117 description of this option in the objcopy section for more
118 information.
119 --strip-unneeded
121 Remove all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing.
122 -K symbolname
124 --keep-symbol=symbolname
125 When stripping symbols, keep symbol symbolname even if it would
126 normally be stripped. This option may be given more than once.
127 -M
129 --merge-notes
130 --no-merge-notes
131 For ELF files, attempt (or do not attempt) to reduce the size of
132 any SHT_NOTE type sections by removing duplicate notes. The
133 default is to attempt this reduction.
134 -N symbolname
136 --strip-symbol=symbolname
137 Remove symbol symbolname from the source file. This option may be
138 given more than once, and may be combined with strip options other
139 than -K.
140 -o file
142 Put the stripped output in file, rather than replacing the existing
143 file. When this argument is used, only one objfile argument may be
144 specified.
145 -p
147 --preserve-dates
148 Preserve the access and modification dates of the file.
149 -D
151 --enable-deterministic-archives
152 Operate in deterministic mode. When copying archive members and
153 writing the archive index, use zero for UIDs, GIDs, timestamps, and
154 use consistent file modes for all files.
155 If binutils was configured with --enable-deterministic-archives,
157 then this mode is on by default. It can be disabled with the -U
158 option, below.
159 -U
161 --disable-deterministic-archives
162 Do not operate in deterministic mode. This is the inverse of the
163 -D option, above: when copying archive members and writing the
164 archive index, use their actual UID, GID, timestamp, and file mode
165 values.
166 This is the default unless binutils was configured with
168 --enable-deterministic-archives.
169 -w
171 --wildcard
172 Permit regular expressions in symbolnames used in other command
173 line options. The question mark (?), asterisk (*), backslash (\)
174 and square brackets ([]) operators can be used anywhere in the
175 symbol name. If the first character of the symbol name is the
176 exclamation point (!) then the sense of the switch is reversed for
177 that symbol. For example:
178 -w -K !foo -K fo*
180 would cause strip to only keep symbols that start with the letters
182 "fo", but to discard the symbol "foo".
183 -x
185 --discard-all
186 Remove non-global symbols.
187 -X
189 --discard-locals
190 Remove compiler-generated local symbols. (These usually start with
191 L or ..)
192 --keep-file-symbols
194 When stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or
195 --strip-unneeded, retain any symbols specifying source file names,
196 which would otherwise get stripped.
197 --only-keep-debug
199 Strip a file, emptying the contents of any sections that would not
200 be stripped by --strip-debug and leaving the debugging sections
201 intact. In ELF files, this preserves all the note sections in the
202 output as well.
203 Note - the section headers of the stripped sections are preserved,
205 including their sizes, but the contents of the section are
206 discarded. The section headers are preserved so that other tools
207 can match up the debuginfo file with the real executable, even if
208 that executable has been relocated to a different address space.
209 The intention is that this option will be used in conjunction with
211 --add-gnu-debuglink to create a two part executable. One a
212 stripped binary which will occupy less space in RAM and in a
213 distribution and the second a debugging information file which is
214 only needed if debugging abilities are required. The suggested
215 procedure to create these files is as follows:
216 1.<Link the executable as normal. Assuming that is is called>
218 "foo" then...
219 1.<Run "objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg" to>
221 create a file containing the debugging info.
222 1.<Run "objcopy --strip-debug foo" to create a>
224 stripped executable.
225 1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.dbg foo">
227 to add a link to the debugging info into the stripped
228 executable.
229 Note---the choice of ".dbg" as an extension for the debug info file
231 is arbitrary. Also the "--only-keep-debug" step is optional. You
232 could instead do this:
233 1.<Link the executable as normal.>
235 1.<Copy "foo" to "foo.full">
236 1.<Run "strip --strip-debug foo">
237 1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.full foo">
238 i.e., the file pointed to by the --add-gnu-debuglink can be the
240 full executable. It does not have to be a file created by the
241 --only-keep-debug switch.
242 Note---this switch is only intended for use on fully linked files.
244 It does not make sense to use it on object files where the
245 debugging information may be incomplete. Besides the gnu_debuglink
246 feature currently only supports the presence of one filename
247 containing debugging information, not multiple filenames on a one-
248 per-object-file basis.
249 -V
251 --version
252 Show the version number for strip.
253 -v
255 --verbose
256 Verbose output: list all object files modified. In the case of
257 archives, strip -v lists all members of the archive.
258 @file
260 Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted
261 in place of the original @file option. If file does not exist, or
262 cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
263 removed.
264 Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace
266 character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire
267 option in either single or double quotes. Any character (including
268 a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
269 included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional
270 @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
271
273 the Info entries for binutils.
274
276 Copyright (c) 1991-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
277 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
279 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
280 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
281 Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
282 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
283 Free Documentation License".
284binutils-2.30 2018-01-27 STRIP(1)