diff --git a/.github/workflows/make.yml b/.github/workflows/make.yml
index f96de558bcd..ad3dde53519 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/make.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/make.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 name: make
 
 # spell-checker:ignore (abbrev/names) CACHEDIR taiki
-# spell-checker:ignore (env/flags) CHERE RUSTDOCFLAGS RUSTFLAGS CARGOFLAGS CLEVEL
+# spell-checker:ignore (env/flags) CHERE RUSTDOCFLAGS RUSTFLAGS CARGOFLAGS CLEVEL relocs
 # spell-checker:ignore (jargon) deps softprops toolchain
 # spell-checker:ignore (people) dawidd
 # spell-checker:ignore (shell/tools) bsdtar nextest pacman sccache zstd
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ concurrency:
 jobs:
   build_makefile:
     name: Build/Makefile and measure binary size
+    env:
+      # to reduce the size:
+      RUSTFLAGS: "-C force-unwind-tables=no -C strip=symbols -Clink-arg=-z -Clink-arg=pack-relative-relocs"
     permissions:
       contents: write # Publish individual binaries
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.job.os }}
@@ -144,7 +147,6 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         # Check that libstdbuf is present too
         mv target/release/deps/libstdbuf.so -t /tmp/individual/usr/local/bin
-        strip -s /tmp/individual/usr/local/bin/*
         ZSTD_CLEVEL=19 tar --zstd -caf individual-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.zst -C /tmp/individual/usr/local bin
     - name: Publish
       uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v3