strip(1)

—

Options · 33

--target	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.
--input-target	Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format bfdname.
--output-target	Replace objfile with a file in the output format bfdname.
--remove-section	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'.
--keep-section	When removing sections from the output file, keep sections that match sectionpattern.
--remove-relocations	--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'.
--strip-section-headers	Strip section headers. This option is specific to ELF files. Implies --strip-all and --merge-notes.
--strip-all	Remove all symbols.
--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 in addition to debugging symbols and sections stripped by --strip-debug.
--keep-symbol	When stripping symbols, keep symbol symbolname even if it would normally be stripped. This option may be given more than once.
--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 unless stripping debug or DWO information.
--strip-symbol	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.
-ofile	Put the stripped output in file, rather than replacing the existing file. When this argument is used, only one objfile argument may be specified.
--preserve-dates	Preserve the access and modification dates of the file.
--enable-deterministic-archives	If binutils was configured with --enable-deterministic-archives, then this mode is on by default. It can be disabled with the -U option, below.
--disable-deterministic-archives	This is the default unless binutils was configured with --enable-deterministic-archives.
--wildcard	-w -K !foo -K fo* would cause strip to only keep symbols that start with the letters "fo", but to discard the symbol "foo".
--discard-all	Remove non-global symbols.
--discard-locals	Remove compiler-generated local symbols. (These usually start with L or ..)
--keep-section-symbols	When stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or --strip-unneeded, retain any symbols specifying section names, which would otherwise get stripped.
--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	Note - the section headers of the stripped sections are 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:
1.<Link the executable as normal. Assuming that it is called>	"foo" then...
--only-keep-debug	create a file containing the debugging info.
--strip-debug	stripped executable.
--add-gnu-debuglink	to add a link to the debugging info into the stripped executable.
--version	Show the version number for strip.
--verbose	Verbose output: list all object files modified. In the case of archives, strip -v lists all members of the archive.
@file	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.

NAME

strip - discard symbols and other data from object files

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

-Fbfdname

--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.

-Ibfdname

--input-target=bfdname

Treat the original objfile as a file with the object code format bfdname.

-Obfdname

--output-target=bfdname

Replace objfile with a file in the output format bfdname.

-Rsectionname

--remove-section=sectionname

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:

bash

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

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

--keep-section=sectionpattern

When removing sections from the output file, keep sections that match sectionpattern.

--remove-relocations=sectionpattern

bash

          --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:

bash

          --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'.

--strip-section-headers

Strip section headers. This option is specific to ELF files. Implies --strip-all and --merge-notes.

-s

--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 in addition to debugging symbols and sections stripped by --strip-debug.

-Ksymbolname

--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 unless stripping debug or DWO information.

-Nsymbolname

--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.

-ofile

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

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

This is the default unless binutils was configured with --enable-deterministic-archives.

-w

--wildcard

bash

          -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-section-symbols

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

--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

Note - the section headers of the stripped sections are 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:

1.<Link the executable as normal. Assuming that it 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: 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.

COPYRIGHT

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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