`strip` option in build.zig

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1

In zig 0.10 I sometimes put this into build.zig:

    const exe = b.addExecutable("prog", "src/prog.zig");
    exe.strip = true;

But it seems now (0.11) this field has disappeared from ExecutableOptions structure.
Is there a way to set it inside build.zig still?

P.S.
I noticed several times that setting strip to true may speed up compilation.
(writing 3 MB to a storage or writing 30KB matters)

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2

The strip field is still part of the Step.Compile returned from addExecutable, so your example should still work fine as long as you update the addExecutable call to use ExecutableOptions.

1 Like
3 
const std = @import("std");

pub fn build(b: *std.build.Builder) void {

    const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
    const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});

    const exe = b.addExecutable(.{
        .name = "srz",
        .root_source_file = .{ .path = "src/srz.zig" },
        .target = target,
        .optimize = optimize,
        .single_threaded = true,
        .strip = true,
    });

    b.installArtifact(exe);
}

@mono:~/2-coding/zig-lang/srz4$ /opt/zig-0.11/zig build
/home/zed/2-coding/zig-lang/srz4/build.zig:14:10: error: no field named 'strip' in struct 'Build.ExecutableOptions'
        .strip = true,
         ^~~~~
/opt/zig-0.11/lib/std/Build.zig:473:31: note: struct declared here
pub const ExecutableOptions = struct {
                              ^~~~~~
referenced by:
    runBuild__anon_7124: /opt/zig-0.11/lib/std/Build.zig:1638:27

As I said there is no strip in ExecutableOptions.

4 
    var exe = b.addExecutable(.{
        .name = "srz",
        .root_source_file = .{ .path = "src/srz.zig" },
        .target = target,
        .optimize = optimize,
        .single_threaded = true,
    });
    exe.strip = true;
3 Likes
5

Thanks!
It was not so obvious for me.

6

Wow, it reduces compile-time by 30% for me. Thanks for sharing!

7

I did not investigate this issue thorough, probably it is a cache effect, I do not know TBH.

8

It’s because it avoids compiling the stack trace printing code. The long term plan to address this is incremental compilation so you only have to wait for that logic to compile once instead of every time you build.

4 Likes