diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index d51ed11..625c151 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -42,16 +42,26 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           VERSION=${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/v}
           PKG_NAME="cddsctl-${VERSION}-linux-x86_64"
+          BIN=build/cli/cddsctl
+          # Split debug info: ship a stripped bin, keep symbols separately.
+          objcopy --only-keep-debug "$BIN" cddsctl.debug
+          objcopy --strip-debug --strip-unneeded "$BIN"
+          objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=cddsctl.debug "$BIN"
           mkdir -p ${PKG_NAME}/bin
-          cp build/cli/cddsctl ${PKG_NAME}/bin/
+          cp "$BIN" ${PKG_NAME}/bin/
           tar -czvf ${PKG_NAME}.tar.gz ${PKG_NAME}
+          mkdir -p ${PKG_NAME}-debug
+          cp cddsctl.debug ${PKG_NAME}-debug/
+          tar -czvf ${PKG_NAME}.debug.tar.gz ${PKG_NAME}-debug
           echo "PKG_NAME=${PKG_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: Upload artifact
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
           name: ${{ env.PKG_NAME }}
-          path: ${{ env.PKG_NAME }}.tar.gz
+          path: |
+            ${{ env.PKG_NAME }}.tar.gz
+            ${{ env.PKG_NAME }}.debug.tar.gz
 
   build-aarch64:
     name: Build Release (aarch64)
@@ -86,16 +96,26 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           VERSION=${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/v}
           PKG_NAME="cddsctl-${VERSION}-linux-aarch64"
+          BIN=build/cli/cddsctl
+          # Split debug info: ship a stripped bin, keep symbols separately.
+          objcopy --only-keep-debug "$BIN" cddsctl.debug
+          objcopy --strip-debug --strip-unneeded "$BIN"
+          objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=cddsctl.debug "$BIN"
           mkdir -p ${PKG_NAME}/bin
-          cp build/cli/cddsctl ${PKG_NAME}/bin/
+          cp "$BIN" ${PKG_NAME}/bin/
           tar -czvf ${PKG_NAME}.tar.gz ${PKG_NAME}
+          mkdir -p ${PKG_NAME}-debug
+          cp cddsctl.debug ${PKG_NAME}-debug/
+          tar -czvf ${PKG_NAME}.debug.tar.gz ${PKG_NAME}-debug
           echo "PKG_NAME=${PKG_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: Upload artifact
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
           name: ${{ env.PKG_NAME }}
-          path: ${{ env.PKG_NAME }}.tar.gz
+          path: |
+            ${{ env.PKG_NAME }}.tar.gz
+            ${{ env.PKG_NAME }}.debug.tar.gz
 
   release:
     name: Create Release
@@ -158,7 +178,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Create Release
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
         with:
-          files: artifacts/*.tar.gz
+          files: |
+            artifacts/*.tar.gz
+            !artifacts/*.debug.tar.gz
           body_path: RELEASE_NOTES.md
           name: cddsctl ${{ github.ref_name }}
         env:
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 64d1b00..1b26b35 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -43,9 +43,11 @@
 # Build directory
 build/
 
-# 3rd_party generated directories
+# 3rd_party generated directories (build trees + per-arch install prefixes)
 3rd_party/yaml-cpp/
+3rd_party/yaml-cpp-*/
 3rd_party/iceoryx/
+3rd_party/iceoryx-*/
 3rd_party/cyclonedds-*/
 3rd_party/build/
 
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b4d6b1c..869b27e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,16 @@ message(STATUS "Target architecture: ${TARGET_ARCH_NAME}")
 # Debug symbols for all build types
 add_compile_options(-g)
 
+# Let the linker drop unreferenced code from the statically-linked DDS stack
+# (iceoryx/CycloneDDS), of which cddsctl uses only a fraction.
+add_compile_options(-ffunction-sections -fdata-sections)
+add_link_options(-Wl,--gc-sections)
+
+if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
+  set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Release)
+endif()
+add_compile_options($<$<CONFIG:Release>:-Os>)
+
 # Use GNUInstallDirs for standard install paths
 include(GNUInstallDirs)