Re: Does GCC link only used functions?

[Glynn Clements <glynn@gclements.plus.com>]

Hendrik Visage wrote:

> > > So does this mean that GCC links only those functions from a library which I
> > > call directly or indirectly through another called function in the course of
> > > my program?
> 
> > For a static library (which is just an archive of object files), the
> > linker will only use those object files which are necessary to satisfy
> > any outstanding references.
> 
> That means that all the functions and everything in that object file
> is included?

Yes. The linker can't include specific portions of an object file.

> thus given the lib.a contains obj1.o and obj2.o compiled from obj1.c &
> obj2.c below,
> the program main from main.c below, linked with lib.a will contain the
> obj1.o part, which
> will also include the superflouos int b() (That's the way I understood
> it too), but not obj2 with c() & d().

Correct.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn@gclements.plus.com>