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 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 inap-
	   propriately 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 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 ..)

       --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 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">

	   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, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 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 1.1 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-2.15.97						    2005-04-20								  STRIP(1)