Shriramana Sharma wrote:
> When we strip a file, we remove any debug information from it. This is
> done to reduce the size of the file.
>
> I have seen package managers provide separate files with debug
> information. For instance, I have a libQtGui.so.4.2.3.debug file 55 MB
> in size separate from the libQtGui.so.4.2.3 file which is 7 MB in size.
>
> Now the questions:
>
> First: Is this kind of providing separate debug files applicable only
> for library or also for applications?
>
> Second: How do I create such .debug files with debug information only? I
> find that these debug files are not executables.
I haven't tried it, but I found this in the binutils Info file:
`--only-keep-debug'
Strip a file, removing any sections that would be stripped by
`--strip-debug' and leaving the debugging sections.
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...
2. Run `objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg' to create a file
containing the debugging info.
3. Run `objcopy --strip-debug foo' to create a stripped
executable.
4. 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.
2. Copy `foo' to `foo.full'
3. Run `objcopy --strip-debug foo'
4. Run `objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.full foo'
ie 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.
--
Glynn Clements <glynn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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