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 strippable files (DEVELOPMENT)

SYNOPSIS

strip file...

DESCRIPTION
A strippable file is defined as a relocatable, object, or executable file. On XSI-conformant systems, a strippable file can also be an archive of object or relocatable files.

The strip utility shall remove from strippable 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 on object and executable files shall be similar to the use of the -s option to c99 or fort77. The effect of strip on an archive of object files shall be similar to the use of the -s option to c99 or fort77 for each object file in the archive.

OPTIONS
None.

OPERANDS
The following operand shall be supported:

file
    A pathname referring to a strippable file.

STDIN
Not used.

INPUT FILES
The input files shall be in the form of strippable files successfully produced by any compiler defined by this volume of POSIX.1-2017 or produced by creating or updating an archive of such files using the ar utility.

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 POSIX.1-2017, 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 strippable 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 a strippable 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 on object and executable files 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.

XSI-conformant systems support use of strip on archive files containing object files or relocatable files.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.

SEE ALSO
ar, c99, fort77

The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017, Chapter 8, Environment Variables

COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 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 .

Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .