[GHC] #12244: Idea: Remove unused symbols in link-time for smaller binaries

[GHC]

#12244: Idea: Remove unused symbols in link-time for smaller binaries
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           Reporter:  osa1           |             Owner:
               Type:  feature        |            Status:  new
  request                            |
           Priority:  lowest         |         Milestone:
          Component:  Compiler       |           Version:  8.1
           Keywords:                 |  Operating System:  Unknown/Multiple
       Architecture:                 |   Type of failure:  None/Unknown
  Unknown/Multiple                   |
          Test Case:                 |        Blocked By:
           Blocking:                 |   Related Tickets:
Differential Rev(s):                 |         Wiki Page:
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 This caught my attention recently: https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml/pull/608

 I think GHC could also benefit from this. I'm currently looking at an
 8.0,1-generated executable, generated with -O2. In the code I defined some
 unused instances, just as an example, and I see code for those in text
 section
 in the binary. There is also lots of other unused stuff (I think mostly
 typeclass instances) imported from libraries and they're all unused
 because
 this is a "hello world" program that imports stuff and defines instances
 for no
 reason.

 There should be another ticket around here that reports some numbers on
 how big
 GHC-generated executables (and GHC itself) is (when compared with other
 compilers)...

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Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/12244>
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