rx-elf-strip ignores -K when using –strip-all on a static library

Question

Toolchain Support

0

rireland-orion 13 Rep. Wed, Aug 13, 2025, 16:08:56 UTC

I have a build that uses `–strip-all` followed by the set of symbols that intended to be public.

For other tool chains, this produces a static library with only the desired set of symbols exposed.

When using rx-elf-strip, it results in a library with all symbols removed; which is less than useful.

Is this a known defect or limitation? Is there a work-around option?

HACKED BY MR YOS naga5000 slot gacor answered Thu, Nov 13, 2025, 1:24:56 UTC

1 answer

score 1 · Answer 1 · 2025-08-14T12:19:38+00:00

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us!

For the following simple test case, creating the archive and displaying the original symbols will show the following:

test.c:
int foo() {
    return 3;
}

test2.c:
int bar() {
    return 0;
}

rx-elf-gcc -c test.c test2.c 
rx-elf-ar rcs libtest.a test.o test2.o
rx-elf-readelf -s libtest.a

File: libtest.a(test.o)

Symbol table '.symtab' contains 7 entries:
   Num:    Value  Size Type    Bind   Vis      Ndx Name
     0: 00000000     0 NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT  UND
     1: 00000000     0 FILE    LOCAL  DEFAULT  ABS test.c
     2: 00000000     0 SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    1 P
     3: 00000000     0 SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    2 D_1
     4: 00000000     0 SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 B_1
     5: 00000000     0 SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    4 .comment
     6: 00000000    11 FUNC    GLOBAL DEFAULT    1 _bar

File: libtest.a(test2.o)

Symbol table '.symtab' contains 7 entries:
   Num:    Value  Size Type    Bind   Vis      Ndx Name
     0: 00000000     0 NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT  UND
     1: 00000000     0 FILE    LOCAL  DEFAULT  ABS test2.c
     2: 00000000     0 SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    1 P
     3: 00000000     0 SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    2 D_1
     4: 00000000     0 SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 B_1
     5: 00000000     0 SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    4 .comment
     6: 00000000    11 FUNC    GLOBAL DEFAULT    1 _foo

After stripping all but foo, the following symbols remain:

rx-elf-strip -s libtest.a -o libtest_stripped.a -K _foo
rx-elf-readelf -s libtest_stripped.a

File: libtest_stripped.a(test.o)        

File: libtest_stripped.a(test2.o)       

Symbol table '.symtab' contains 2 entries:
   Num:    Value  Size Type    Bind   Vis      Ndx Name
     0: 00000000     0 NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT  UND     
     1: 00000000    11 FUNC    GLOBAL DEFAULT    1 _foo

This is the correct behavior. If this is not what you are experiencing please provide us a minimal reproducible example: objects or archives before and after stripping and the exact command used to strip the symbols.

Best regards,
The Open Source Tools Team