NAME

       strip - discard symbols and other data 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]
             [--keep-section=sectionpattern]
             [--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.

       -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'.

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

       --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
       --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 unless stripping debug or DWO
           information.

       -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 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 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
           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) 1991-2020 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".