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]
             [-K symbolname |--keep-symbol=symbolname]
             [-N symbolname |--strip-symbol=symbolname]
             [-w|--wildcard]
             [-x|--discard-all] [-X |--discard-locals]
             [-R sectionname |--remove-section=sectionname]
             [-o file] [-p|--preserve-dates]
             [--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 for-
           mat.

       --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.

       -O bfdname
       --output-target=bfdname
           Replace objfile with a file in the output format  bfd-
           name.

       -R sectionname
       --remove-section=sectionname
           Remove  any  section named sectionname from the output
           file.  This option may be given more than once.   Note
           that  using  this  option inappropriately may make the
           output file unusable.

       -s
       --strip-all
           Remove all symbols.

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

       --strip-unneeded
           Remove all symbols that are not needed for  relocation
           processing.

       -K symbolname
       --keep-symbol=symbolname
           Keep  only  symbol  symbolname  from  the source file.
           This option may be given more than once.

       -N symbolname
       --strip-symbol=symbolname
           Remove symbol symbolname from the  source  file.  This
           option  may  be  given more than once, and may be com-
           bined 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.

       -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 exclama-
           tion 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 usu-
           ally start with L or ..)

       --only-keep-debug
           Strip a file, removing  any  sections  that  would  be
           stripped  by  --strip-debug  and leaving the debugging
           sections.

           The intention is that this option will be used in con-
           junction 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 pro-
           cedure to create these files is as follows:

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

           ie 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.

       -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.

SEE ALSO
       the Info entries for binutils.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 1991, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99,  2000,
       2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       Permission  is  granted  to copy, distribute and/or modify
       this document under the terms of the GNU  Free  Documenta-
       tion  License,  Version 1.1 or any later version published
       by the Free Software Foundation; with  no  Invariant  Sec-
       tions,  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''.



binutils-2.14.91            2004-04-09                   STRIP(1)
