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strip(1)




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]
           [-M|--merge-notes][--no-merge-notes]
           [-N symbolname |--strip-symbol=symbolname]
           [-w|--wildcard]
           [-x|--discard-all] [-X |--discard-locals]
           [-R sectionname |--remove-section=sectionname]
           [--remove-relocations=sectionpattern]
           [-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.

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     -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, in addition to whatever sections would otherwise
         be removed.  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.

         If the first character of sectionpattern is the
         exclamation point (!) then matching sections will not be
         removed even if an earlier use of --remove-section on
         the same command line would otherwise remove it.  For
         example:

                   --remove-section=.text.* --remove-section=!.text.foo

         will remove all sections matching the pattern '.text.*',
         but will not remove the section '.text.foo'.

     --remove-relocations=sectionpattern
         Remove relocations from the output file for any section
         matching sectionpattern.  This option may be given more
         than once.  Note that using this option inappropriately
         may make the output file unusable.  Wildcard characters
         are accepted in sectionpattern.  For example:

                   --remove-relocations=.text.*

         will remove the relocations for all sections matching
         the patter '.text.*'.

         If the first character of sectionpattern is the
         exclamation point (!) then matching sections will not
         have their relocation removed even if an earlier use of
         --remove-relocations on the same command line would
         otherwise cause the relocations to be removed.  For
         example:

                   --remove-relocations=.text.* --remove-relocations=!.text.foo

         will remove all relocations for sections matching the
         pattern '.text.*', but will not remove relocations for
         the section '.text.foo'.

     -s

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     --strip-all
         Remove all symbols.

     -g
     -S
     -d
     --strip-debug
         Remove debugging symbols only.

     --strip-dwo
         Remove the contents of all DWARF .dwo sections, leaving
         the remaining debugging sections and all symbols 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.

     -M
     --merge-notes
     --no-merge-notes
         For ELF files, attempt (or do not attempt) to reduce the
         size of any SHT_NOTE type sections by removing duplicate
         notes.  The default is to attempt this reduction.

     -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

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         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
     --discard-locals
         Remove compiler-generated local symbols.  (These usually
         start with L or ..)

     --keep-file-symbols
         When stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or
         --strip-unneeded, retain any symbols specifying source
         file names, which would otherwise get stripped.

     --only-keep-debug
         Strip a file, emptying the contents of any sections that
         would not be stripped by --strip-debug and leaving the
         debugging sections intact.  In ELF files, this preserves
         all the note sections in the output as well.

         Note - the section headers of the stripped sections are

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         preserved, including their sizes, but the contents of
         the section are discarded.  The section headers are
         preserved so that other tools can match up the debuginfo
         file with the real executable, even if that executable
         has been relocated to a different address space.

         The intention is that this option will be used in
         conjunction with --add-gnu-debuglink to create a two
         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:

        called>
         1.<Link the executable as normal.  Assuming that is is
             "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

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STRIP(1)              GNU Development Tools              STRIP(1)

         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.


COPYRIGHT

     Copyright (c) 1991-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

     Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
     document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
     License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the
     Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with
     no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.  A copy
     of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free
     Documentation License".

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