NAME

strip — remove unnecessary information from strippable files (DEVELOPMENT)

SYNOPSIS

[SD] strip file...

DESCRIPTION

A strippable file is defined as a relocatable, object, or executable file. ^[XSI]  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 c17. ^[XSI]  The effect of strip on an archive of object files shall be similar to the use of the -s option to c17 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.1-2024 ^[XSI]  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 XBD 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

^[XSI] Determine the location of messages objects and message catalogs.

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.

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, c17

XBD 8. Environment Variables

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 2.

Issue 6

This utility is marked as part of the Software Development Utilities option.

Issue 7

Austin Group Interpretation 1003.1-2001 #103 is applied.

Issue 8

Austin Group Defect 1122 is applied, changing the description of NLSPATH .

Austin Group Defect 1330 is applied, removing obsolescent interfaces.