diff --git a/src/core/empty.zig b/src/core/empty.zig
index e69de29..8337712 100644
--- a/src/core/empty.zig
+++ b/src/core/empty.zig
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+//
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index c4fa6e5..7781f25 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -182,6 +182,7 @@ pub fn addEmbeddedExecutable(
     };
 
     exe.inner.use_stage1 = true;
+    exe.inner.strip = false; // we always want debug symbols, stripping brings us no benefit on embedded
 
     // might not be true for all machines (Pi Pico), but
     // for the HAL it's true (it doesn't know the concept of threading)