OCPBUGS-83863: Strip debug symbols from Go binaries

[sdodson]

Summary

• Add -s -w to ldflags in GO_BUILD_RECIPE to strip DWARF debug info and symbol tables from the main operator binary
• Fix build-gather-sysinfo and build-performance-profile-creator targets which intended to strip but had a make-vs-shell variable expansion bug ($(LDFLAGS) is expanded by make before the shell runs, so the shell variable set on the previous line was never used)

Impact

The cluster-node-tuning-operator image (617 MB) contains three unstripped Go binaries totaling 195 MB:

• cluster-node-tuning-operator (96.8 MB)
• gather-sysinfo (63.8 MB)
• performance-profile-creator (34.6 MB)

Stripping typically reduces Go binary size by 20-30%, reducing container image pull time during node scale-up.

Test plan

• Verify image builds successfully
• Verify binaries are stripped (file /usr/bin/cluster-node-tuning-operator should show "stripped")
• Verify operator functions correctly

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Chores
  • Updated build configuration to optimize binary sizes and streamline the compilation process across multiple build targets.

[openshift-ci-robot]

@sdodson: This pull request references Jira Issue OCPBUGS-83863, which is valid.

3 validation(s) were run on this bug

• bug is open, matching expected state (open)
• bug target version (5.0.0) matches configured target version for branch (5.0.0)
• bug is in the state POST, which is one of the valid states (NEW, ASSIGNED, POST)

The bug has been updated to refer to the pull request using the external bug tracker.

Details

In response to this:

Summary

• Add -s -w to ldflags in GO_BUILD_RECIPE to strip DWARF debug info and symbol tables from the main operator binary
• Fix build-gather-sysinfo and build-performance-profile-creator targets which intended to strip but had a make-vs-shell variable expansion bug ($(LDFLAGS) is expanded by make before the shell runs, so the shell variable set on the previous line was never used)

Impact

The cluster-node-tuning-operator image (617 MB) contains three unstripped Go binaries totaling 195 MB:

• cluster-node-tuning-operator (96.8 MB)
• gather-sysinfo (63.8 MB)
• performance-profile-creator (34.6 MB)

Stripping typically reduces Go binary size by 20-30%, reducing container image pull time during node scale-up.

Test plan

• Verify image builds successfully
• Verify binaries are stripped (file /usr/bin/cluster-node-tuning-operator should show "stripped")
• Verify operator functions correctly

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[openshift-ci]

[APPROVALNOTIFIER] This PR is NOT APPROVED

This pull-request has been approved by: sdodson
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[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

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Plan: Enterprise

Run ID: f6542d48-6bf1-4505-aecf-331978457e5c

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 30ad005 and 18d9b3b.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• Makefile

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Walkthrough

The Makefile adds Go linker stripping flags (-s -w) to build recipes. The main GO_BUILD_RECIPE variable and two specialized build targets (build-performance-profile-creator and build-gather-sysinfo) are updated to pass -ldflags "-s -w" inline alongside version injection, reducing binary size.

Changes

Binary size optimization via Go linker flags

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Go linker stripping flags in build recipes Makefile	GO_BUILD_RECIPE, build-performance-profile-creator, and build-gather-sysinfo targets are updated to include -s -w linker flags. The main recipe adds flags to the existing -X version injection. The two specialized targets switch from shell variable-based LDFLAGS to inline -ldflags flags containing both stripping and version options.

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🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~3 minutes

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 10 | ❌ 2

❌ Failed checks (2 warnings)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Microshift Test Compatibility	⚠️ Warning	New Ginkgo tests use unavailable OpenShift APIs (ClusterOperator, MachineConfig) without MicroShift protection markers or guards.	Add [Skipped:MicroShift] labels or [apigroup:...] tags to protect tests using unavailable OpenShift APIs from running on MicroShift.
Single Node Openshift (Sno) Test Compatibility	⚠️ Warning	New e2e tests in test/e2e/basic/ assume multiple worker nodes without SNO guards and will fail on single-node clusters when calling GetNodesByRole.	Add [Skipped:SingleReplicaTopology] label to tests or guard with exutil.IsSingleNode() checks. Affected: default_node_sysctl.go, modules.go, custom_node_labels.go, etc.

✅ Passed checks (10 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and specifically describes the main change: adding Go linker stripping flags (-s -w) to remove debug symbols from binaries in the Makefile.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Stable And Deterministic Test Names	✅ Passed	PR only modifies Makefile (Go linker stripping flags). No Ginkgo test files or test names were added, modified, or removed, so the stable test names check is not applicable.
Test Structure And Quality	✅ Passed	PR only modifies Makefile to add binary stripping flags; contains no Ginkgo test code changes. The test files shown are new files being created, not modifications to existing test code.
Topology-Aware Scheduling Compatibility	✅ Passed	PR modifies only Makefile linker flags (-s -w); no scheduling constraints, pod affinity, or topology changes.
Ote Binary Stdout Contract	✅ Passed	PR only modifies Makefile to add -s -w linker flags for binary stripping. No Go source code changed. These flags strip debug symbols at compile time, not affecting runtime stdout behavior.
Ipv6 And Disconnected Network Test Compatibility	✅ Passed	PR only modifies Makefile to add binary stripping flags. No new Ginkgo e2e tests are added, so the check is not applicable.

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✨ Finishing Touches

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[openshift-ci]

@sdodson: The following tests failed, say /retest to rerun all failed tests or /retest-required to rerun all mandatory failed tests:

Test name	Commit	Details	Required	Rerun command
ci/prow/e2e-gcp-pao-updating-profile	18d9b3b	link	true	/test e2e-gcp-pao-updating-profile
ci/prow/e2e-aws-ovn-techpreview	18d9b3b	link	true	/test e2e-aws-ovn-techpreview

Full PR test history. Your PR dashboard.

Details

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[jmencak]

Thank you for the PR, Scott. Do we want to do the same thing for cluster-node-tuning-operator-test-ext? It will grow large soon as we add more tests.