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]
             [--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.

       -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.  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
           When  stripping  symbols,  keep symbol symbolname even if it would normally be stripped.  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
           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.

       -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, removing contents of any sections that would  not  be  stripped  by  --strip-debug  and
           leaving the debugging sections intact.  In ELF files, this preserves all note sections in the output.

           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 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">

           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
           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, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
       2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 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".

binutils-2.21.1                                    2011-06-27                                           STRIP(1)