dead function elimination

[Nick Clifton]

Hi Jimmy,

> Can gcc or ld perform dead procedure elimination apart from using the 
> combination of --gc-sections/-ffunction-sections?

(Why are you excluding the --gc-sections / -ffunction-sections pairing 
which were designed precisely for this purpose ?)

The short answer is yes.  Gcc can and will eliminate unused local 
procedures, and with its --whole-program option it can even eliminate 
unused non-local procedures.

But your question implies that you are asking if between them the linker 
and compiler can eliminate unused procedures without recompilation of 
all the sources, and in this case the answer is no.

Cheers
   Nick