Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!gatech!purdue!haven!adm!smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: smart linker
Message-ID: <15292@smoke.brl.mil>
Date: 22 Feb 91 18:04:07 GMT
References: <15279@smoke.brl.mil> <1991Feb21.102123.9868@cs.umn.edu> <1991Feb22.011332.24359@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 8

In article <1991Feb22.011332.24359@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Doug McDonald) writes:
>>I feel I should point out that the selective linking must  be done
>>on the basis of OBJECT MODULE, not FUNCTION. 
>Here "must" is too strong.

The deferred "dead code elimination" is fine, but the point is that
a conforming C implementation must act AS THOUGH external linkage
operated on the translation unit as a whole.