Is it safe to strip the binaries in Linux Mint?

Question

I am trying to reduce the disk space on my computer, and du shows that the library directories (/usr/liband /lib) and binary directories (/sbin, /bin, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin) take up the most space apart from logs which I have already emptied.

Is it safe to strip all the binaries and libraries, and if so what options to strip should I use? I am hesitant to trash my system and waste time reinstalling.

Seems a little extreme. Would it not be possible to identify packages/files that are not required and remove them ? — steve, Aug 08 '15 at 15:37
I have done things like that (deleting files, packages, etc) already. — sadljkfhalskdjfh, Aug 08 '15 at 15:39
Along the lines of @steve's comment, have you considered installing a stripped-down distro? — Jeff Schaller, Aug 08 '15 at 15:48
Are you sure the binaries and libraries aren't already stripped? `file` will tell you... — Stephen Kitt, Aug 08 '15 at 15:50
@JeffSchaller That would be a better idea, but I have already installed Linux Mint and deleted useless stuff like gdb and gcc which I do not need. — sadljkfhalskdjfh, Aug 08 '15 at 15:54
@StephenKitt Actually, most of them are, but there are still a significant portion of them that are not. — sadljkfhalskdjfh, Aug 08 '15 at 15:55
Strip them all -- all it will do is hinder any gdb debugging. — Jeff Schaller, Aug 08 '15 at 15:57
@JeffSchaller There are binaries that mustn't be stripped, for example some binaries containing an interpreter plus bytecode, where stripping would remove the bytecode. — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Aug 08 '15 at 21:20
Compare the cost of your time to the cost of a bigger hard drive. — Keith Thompson, Jan 22 '16 at 22:37

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 08 '15 at 16:10

Stripping is supposed to be safe, all it does is remove symbols from binaries, and they are only needed for debugging. So it should be safe to strip everything.

In most Linux distributions (Mint included), binaries and libraries are stripped by default, and symbols are made available separately in debug packages. A binary or library which is not stripped may be left that way for a reason; for example, Python libraries are usually not stripped so that sensible stacktraces can be provided (but that's not an issue for you). Generally speaking if you're not developing it shouldn't be an issue though.

Looking at my systems, the only non-stripped binaries that give me pause are Grub's modules; I don't know why they're not stripped, so I'd be wary of stripping them myself...

Is it safe to strip the binaries in Linux Mint?

1 Answers1