On macOS 12.7.5 (Monterey) using gcc to compile *.c: gcc version 13.2.0, with gnu make 3.81, (I prefer command line tools over XCode), when I pass CFLAGS = -g in a makefile I get full debugging symbols inside the executable but no .dSYM directory. In other words, the symbols are not stripped. However, when I type a typical gcc command: