symcompact(1)						      General Commands Manual						     symcompact(1)

NAME

       symcompact - string compaction for object files

SYNOPSIS

       symcompact [ object_name ... ]

DESCRIPTION

       symcompact  reduces  the symbol table size of an executable file.  This is done by removing unnecessary overlay transfer vectors (text sym-
       bols beginning with a tilde).  In a nonoverlaid program there is no need for both the underscore (_foo) and tilde (~foo)  text  symbol  and
       only  the  underscore form is kept.  For overlaid programs if the symbol is in the base segment the tilde form is not needed and again only
       the underscore form is preserved.  Running symcompact typically reduces the kernel symbol table size by 250 or so symbols.

       It is possible to run both symcompact and strcompact to achieve an even higher degree of symbol and string table  compaction.   The  normal
       sequence is to run symcompact first followed by strcompact.  If symcompact runs out of memory it will be necessary to reverse the order and
       run symcompact a second time - see the BUGS note below.

       The user must have write permission to the object/executable file.

       symcompact writes to stderr the count of symbols removed from the symbol table.

       symcompact exits 0 if successful, and >0 if an error occurred.

SEE ALSO

       symcompact(1), symorder(1)

BUGS

       This program can partially negate the benefits of strcompact because multiple references to identical strings cause additional  strings	to
       be placed in the string table.  Running strcompact again after running this program fixes this problem.

       The  register  local symbol type is removed from the executable/object file.  Since the debugger really doesn't know how to deal with those
       symbols this is not much of a loss and saves quite a bit of space both in the symbol table and the string table.

       symcompact should not be run on .o files that will be passed to the linker.  The linker will need the tilde form of the symbol if an  over-
       laid executable is being created.

3rd Berkeley Distribution					 January 25, 1994						     symcompact(1)