STRIP(1P)

PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME
strip - remove unnecessary information from executable files (DEVELOPMENT)

SYNOPSIS

strip file...

DESCRIPTION

The strip utility shall remove from executable files named by the file operands any information the implementor deems unnecessary for execution of those files. The nature of that information is unspecified. The effect of strip shall be similar to the use of the -s option to c99 or fort77.

OPTIONS

None.

OPERANDS

The following operand shall be supported:

file
    A pathname referring to an executable file.

STDIN

Not used.

INPUT FILES

The input files shall be in the form of executable files successfully produced by any compiler defined by this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The following environment variables shall affect the execution of strip:

LANG
    Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to determine the values of locale categories.)

LC_ALL
    If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables.

LC_CTYPE
    Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments).

LC_MESSAGES
    Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.

NLSPATH
    Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES .

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

Default.

STDOUT

Not used.

STDERR

The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES

The strip utility shall produce executable files of unspecified format.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

None.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values shall be returned:

0   Successful completion.

>0  An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS

Default.

The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE

None.

EXAMPLES

None.

RATIONALE

Historically, this utility has been used to remove the symbol table from an executable file. It was included since it is known that the amount of symbolic information can amount to several megabytes; the ability to remove it in a portable manner was deemed important, especially for smaller systems.

The behavior of strip is said to be the same as the -s option to a compiler. While the end result is essentially the same, it is not required to be identical.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

ar, c99, fort77

COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .