linux man page for strip

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]
	     [--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, 2011
       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-2.21.53-system 					    2011-12-23								  STRIP(1)