How to remove unused C/C++ symbols with GCC and ld?

Question

I need to optimize the size of my executable severely (ARM development) and I noticed that in my current build scheme (gcc + ld) unuse

Answer 1

Programming habits could help too; e.g. add static to functions that are not accessed outside a specific file; use shorter names for symbols (can help a bit, likely not too much); use const char x[] where possible; ... this paper, though it talks about dynamic shared objects, can contain suggestions that, if followed, can help to make your final binary output size smaller (if your target is ELF).