--gc-sections on x86

[Gabriel Linder <linder@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi list,

I am trying to remove some unused functions from our programs, with gcc 
flag -ffunction-sections and ld flag --gc-sections, but it doesn't seem 
to work at all :-(

I use gcc 3.2.2, and I get the following (sample source attached, 18 
lines) :
2828 bytes with gcc -march=i686 -O2 -ffunction-sections 
-Wl,--gc-sections oblivion.c -o oblivion && strip -s oblivion
2812 bytes with gcc -DNOTHING -march=i686 -O2 -ffunction-sections 
-Wl,--gc-sections oblivion.c -o oblivion && strip -s oblivion

Is this a known problem ? Is a workaround available ?

#include <stdio.h>

#ifndef NOTHING
int nothing(int n) // unused function, should not be in binary !
{
	return n;
}
#endif

int hello(void) // used function
{
	return printf("I do nothing !\n");
}

int main(void)
{
	return hello();
}