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<title>About debugging symbols</title>
<?dbhtml filename="aboutdebug.html" dir="chapter06"?>
-<para>Most programs and libraries by default are compiled with debugging
-symbols (gcc option -g).</para>
+<para>Most programs and libraries are by default compiled with debugging
+symbols included (with gcc option -g).</para>
-<para>A program compiled with debugging symbols means a user can run a program
-or library through a debugger and the debugger's output will be user
-friendly. These debugging symbols also enlarge the program or library
-significantly.</para>
-
-<para>Before you start wondering whether these debugging symbols really make a
-big difference, here are some statistics. Use them to draw your own
-conclusion.</para>
+<para>When debugging a program or library that was compiled with debugging
+information included, the debugger can give you not only memory addresses
+but also the names of the routines and variables.</para>
+
+<para>But the inclusion of these debugging symbols enlarges a program or
+library significantly. To get an idea of the amount of space these symbols
+occupy, have a look at the following:</para>
<itemizedlist>
-<listitem><para>A dynamic Bash binary
-with debugging symbols: 1.2 MB</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>a bash binary
+with debugging symbols: 1200 KB</para></listitem>
-<listitem><para>A dynamic Bash binary
-without debugging symbols: 478 KB</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>a bash binary
+without debugging symbols: 480 KB</para></listitem>
-<listitem><para>/lib and /usr/lib (glibc
-and gcc files) with debugging symbols: 87 MB</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>glibc and gcc files (/lib and /usr/lib)
+with debugging symbols: 87 MB</para></listitem>
-<listitem><para>/lib and /usr/lib (glibc
-and gcc files) without debugging symbols: 16 MB</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>glibc and gcc files
+without debugging symbols: 16 MB</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
-<para>Sizes vary depending on which compiler was used and which C library
-version was used to link dynamic programs against, but results will be
-similar if you compare programs with and without debugging symbols.</para>
+<para>Sizes may vary a little, depending on which compiler was used and
+which C library. But when comparing programs with and without debugging
+symbols, the difference will generally be a factor between 2 and 5.</para>
+
+<para>As most people will probably never use a debugger on their system
+software, a lot of disk space can be regained by removing these symbols .</para>
-<para>To remove debugging symbols from a binary (must be an a.out or ELF
-binary) run <userinput>strip --strip-debug filename</userinput>. Wildcards
-can be used to strip debugging symbols from multiple files (use something
-like <userinput>strip --strip-debug $LFS/usr/bin/*</userinput>). Most
-people will probably never use a debugger on software, so by removing
-those symbols a lot of disk space can be regained.</para>
+<para>To remove debugging symbols from a binary (which must be an a.out
+or ELF binary), run <userinput>strip --strip-debug filename</userinput>.
+Wildcards can be used to treat multiple files (use something like
+<userinput>strip --strip-debug $LFS/static/bin/*</userinput>).</para>
<para>For your convenience, chapter 9 includes one simple command to strip
-all debugging symbols from the programs and libraries on your system. You
-might find additional information in the optimization hint which can be
-found at <ulink url="&hints-root;optimization.txt"/>.</para>
+all debugging symbols from all programs and libraries on your system.
+Additional information on optimization you can find in the hint at
+<ulink url="&hints-root;optimization.txt"/>.</para>
</sect1>