objcopy

copies the contents of an object file to another, optionally transforming it

TLDR

Copy an object file to a new path

$ objcopy [source] [dest]

Strip all symbols into a new file

$ objcopy --strip-all [source] [dest]

Strip only debug sections

$ objcopy --strip-debug [source] [dest]

Copy a single section only

$ objcopy --only-section=[section] [source] [dest]

Convert between object formats

$ objcopy --input-target=[in_fmt] --output-target=[out_fmt] [source] [dest]

SYNOPSIS

objcopy [-F bfdname | --target=bfdname] [-I bfdname | --input-target=bfdname] [-O bfdname | --output-target=bfdname] [options] infile [outfile]

objcopy copies the contents of an object file to another, optionally transforming it in the process. It uses the GNU BFD library to read and write object files in various formats including ELF, COFF, S-records, and raw binary.Common uses include: stripping symbols to reduce binary size, extracting debug information to separate files, converting between executable formats (e.g., ELF to raw binary for embedded systems), and copying or removing specific sections from object files.

PARAMETERS

-I bfdname, --input-target=bfdname

Consider the source file's object format to be bfdname

-O bfdname, --output-target=bfdname

Write the output file using the object format bfdname

-F bfdname, --target=bfdname

Use bfdname as the format for both input and output

-j name, --only-section=name

Copy only the specified section to the output

-R name, --remove-section=name

Remove the specified section from the output

-S, --strip-all

Remove all symbol and relocation information

-g, --strip-debug

Remove debugging symbols only

--only-keep-debug

Strip everything except debugging information

--add-gnu-debuglink=file

Add a .gnudebuglink section linking to file_

--dump-section name=file

Dump contents of section name to file

--rename-section old=new[,flags]

Rename section old to new with optional flags

-B bfdarch, --binary-architecture=bfdarch

Set architecture when input is binary format

-i, --info

List all available BFD target formats

INSTALL

sudo apt install binutils

sudo dnf install binutils

sudo pacman -S binutils

sudo apk add binutils

sudo zypper install binutils

brew install binutils

nix profile install nixpkgs#binutils

CAVEATS

Cannot change the endianness of input files; target format must match source endianness or have no endianness (like S-records). Copying relocatable object files between formats may not preserve all information correctly. Fully linked executables copy more reliably across formats.

HISTORY

Part of GNU Binutils, first released in 1991 alongside other binary utilities like objdump and nm. Developed to complement the GNU toolchain (GCC, GAS, ld) for cross-platform development and embedded systems programming.