1STRIP(1) GNU Development Tools STRIP(1)
2
6 strip - discard symbols and other data 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 [--keep-section=sectionpattern]
22 [--remove-relocations=sectionpattern]
23 [-o file] [-p|--preserve-dates]
24 [-D|--enable-deterministic-archives]
25 [-U|--disable-deterministic-archives]
26 [--keep-file-symbols]
27 [--only-keep-debug]
28 [-v |--verbose] [-V|--version]
29 [--help] [--info]
30 objfile...
31
33 GNU strip discards all symbols from object files objfile. The list of
34 object files may include archives. At least one object file must be
35 given.
36 strip modifies the files named in its argument, rather than writing
38 modified copies under different names.
39
41 -F bfdname
42 --target=bfdname
43 Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format
44 bfdname, and rewrite it in the same format.
45 --help
47 Show a summary of the options to strip and exit.
48 --info
50 Display a list showing all architectures and object formats
51 available.
52 -I bfdname
54 --input-target=bfdname
55 Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format
56 bfdname.
57 -O bfdname
59 --output-target=bfdname
60 Replace objfile with a file in the output format bfdname.
61 -R sectionname
63 --remove-section=sectionname
64 Remove any section named sectionname from the output file, in
65 addition to whatever sections would otherwise be removed. This
66 option may be given more than once. Note that using this option
67 inappropriately may make the output file unusable. The wildcard
68 character * may be given at the end of sectionname. If so, then
69 any section starting with sectionname will be removed.
70 If the first character of sectionpattern is the exclamation point
72 (!) then matching sections will not be removed even if an earlier
73 use of --remove-section on the same command line would otherwise
74 remove it. For example:
75 --remove-section=.text.* --remove-section=!.text.foo
77 will remove all sections matching the pattern '.text.*', but will
79 not remove the section '.text.foo'.
80 --keep-section=sectionpattern
82 When removing sections from the output file, keep sections that
83 match sectionpattern.
84 --remove-relocations=sectionpattern
86 Remove relocations from the output file for any section matching
87 sectionpattern. This option may be given more than once. Note
88 that using this option inappropriately may make the output file
89 unusable. Wildcard characters are accepted in sectionpattern. For
90 example:
91 --remove-relocations=.text.*
93 will remove the relocations for all sections matching the patter
95 '.text.*'.
96 If the first character of sectionpattern is the exclamation point
98 (!) then matching sections will not have their relocation removed
99 even if an earlier use of --remove-relocations on the same command
100 line would otherwise cause the relocations to be removed. For
101 example:
102 --remove-relocations=.text.* --remove-relocations=!.text.foo
104 will remove all relocations for sections matching the pattern
106 '.text.*', but will not remove relocations for the section
107 '.text.foo'.
108 -s
110 --strip-all
111 Remove all symbols.
112 -g
114 -S
115 -d
116 --strip-debug
117 Remove debugging symbols only.
118 --strip-dwo
120 Remove the contents of all DWARF .dwo sections, leaving the
121 remaining debugging sections and all symbols intact. See the
122 description of this option in the objcopy section for more
123 information.
124 --strip-unneeded
126 Remove all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing.
127 -K symbolname
129 --keep-symbol=symbolname
130 When stripping symbols, keep symbol symbolname even if it would
131 normally be stripped. This option may be given more than once.
132 -M
134 --merge-notes
135 --no-merge-notes
136 For ELF files, attempt (or do not attempt) to reduce the size of
137 any SHT_NOTE type sections by removing duplicate notes. The
138 default is to attempt this reduction unless stripping debug or DWO
139 information.
140 -N symbolname
142 --strip-symbol=symbolname
143 Remove symbol symbolname from the source file. This option may be
144 given more than once, and may be combined with strip options other
145 than -K.
146 -o file
148 Put the stripped output in file, rather than replacing the existing
149 file. When this argument is used, only one objfile argument may be
150 specified.
151 -p
153 --preserve-dates
154 Preserve the access and modification dates of the file.
155 -D
157 --enable-deterministic-archives
158 Operate in deterministic mode. When copying archive members and
159 writing the archive index, use zero for UIDs, GIDs, timestamps, and
160 use consistent file modes for all files.
161 If binutils was configured with --enable-deterministic-archives,
163 then this mode is on by default. It can be disabled with the -U
164 option, below.
165 -U
167 --disable-deterministic-archives
168 Do not operate in deterministic mode. This is the inverse of the
169 -D option, above: when copying archive members and writing the
170 archive index, use their actual UID, GID, timestamp, and file mode
171 values.
172 This is the default unless binutils was configured with
174 --enable-deterministic-archives.
175 -w
177 --wildcard
178 Permit regular expressions in symbolnames used in other command
179 line options. The question mark (?), asterisk (*), backslash (\)
180 and square brackets ([]) operators can be used anywhere in the
181 symbol name. If the first character of the symbol name is the
182 exclamation point (!) then the sense of the switch is reversed for
183 that symbol. For example:
184 -w -K !foo -K fo*
186 would cause strip to only keep symbols that start with the letters
188 "fo", but to discard the symbol "foo".
189 -x
191 --discard-all
192 Remove non-global symbols.
193 -X
195 --discard-locals
196 Remove compiler-generated local symbols. (These usually start with
197 L or ..)
198 --keep-file-symbols
200 When stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or
201 --strip-unneeded, retain any symbols specifying source file names,
202 which would otherwise get stripped.
203 --only-keep-debug
205 Strip a file, emptying the contents of any sections that would not
206 be stripped by --strip-debug and leaving the debugging sections
207 intact. In ELF files, this preserves all the note sections in the
208 output as well.
209 Note - the section headers of the stripped sections are preserved,
211 including their sizes, but the contents of the section are
212 discarded. The section headers are preserved so that other tools
213 can match up the debuginfo file with the real executable, even if
214 that executable has been relocated to a different address space.
215 The intention is that this option will be used in conjunction with
217 --add-gnu-debuglink to create a two part executable. One a
218 stripped binary which will occupy less space in RAM and in a
219 distribution and the second a debugging information file which is
220 only needed if debugging abilities are required. The suggested
221 procedure to create these files is as follows:
222 1.<Link the executable as normal. Assuming that it is called>
224 "foo" then...
225 1.<Run "objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg" to>
227 create a file containing the debugging info.
228 1.<Run "objcopy --strip-debug foo" to create a>
230 stripped executable.
231 1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.dbg foo">
233 to add a link to the debugging info into the stripped
234 executable.
235 Note---the choice of ".dbg" as an extension for the debug info file
237 is arbitrary. Also the "--only-keep-debug" step is optional. You
238 could instead do this:
239 1.<Link the executable as normal.>
241 1.<Copy "foo" to "foo.full">
242 1.<Run "strip --strip-debug foo">
243 1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.full foo">
244 i.e., the file pointed to by the --add-gnu-debuglink can be the
246 full executable. It does not have to be a file created by the
247 --only-keep-debug switch.
248 Note---this switch is only intended for use on fully linked files.
250 It does not make sense to use it on object files where the
251 debugging information may be incomplete. Besides the gnu_debuglink
252 feature currently only supports the presence of one filename
253 containing debugging information, not multiple filenames on a one-
254 per-object-file basis.
255 -V
257 --version
258 Show the version number for strip.
259 -v
261 --verbose
262 Verbose output: list all object files modified. In the case of
263 archives, strip -v lists all members of the archive.
264 @file
266 Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted
267 in place of the original @file option. If file does not exist, or
268 cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
269 removed.
270 Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace
272 character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire
273 option in either single or double quotes. Any character (including
274 a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
275 included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional
276 @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
277
279 the Info entries for binutils.
280
282 Copyright (c) 1991-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
283 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
285 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
286 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
287 Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
288 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
289 Free Documentation License".
290binutils-2.34 2021-01-28 STRIP(1)