This change adds build system support for Clang's Link Time
Optimization (LTO). With -flto, instead of ELF object files, Clang
produces LLVM bitcode, which is compiled into native code at link
time, allowing the final binary to be optimized globally. For more
details, see:
https://llvm.org/docs/LinkTimeOptimization.html
The Kconfig option CONFIG_LTO_CLANG is implemented as a choice,
which defaults to LTO being disabled. To use LTO, the architecture
must select ARCH_SUPPORTS_LTO_CLANG and support:
- compiling with Clang,
- compiling all assembly code with Clang's integrated assembler,
- and linking with LLD.
While using CONFIG_LTO_CLANG_FULL results in the best runtime
performance, the compilation is not scalable in time or
memory. CONFIG_LTO_CLANG_THIN enables ThinLTO, which allows
parallel optimization and faster incremental builds. ThinLTO is
used by default if the architecture also selects
ARCH_SUPPORTS_LTO_CLANG_THIN:
https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ThinLTO.html
To enable LTO, LLVM tools must be used to handle bitcode files, by
passing LLVM=1 and LLVM_IAS=1 options to make:
$ make LLVM=1 LLVM_IAS=1 defconfig
$ scripts/config -e LTO_CLANG_THIN
$ make LLVM=1 LLVM_IAS=1
To prepare for LTO support with other compilers, common parts are
gated behind the CONFIG_LTO option, and LTO can be disabled for
specific files by filtering out CC_FLAGS_LTO.
Signed-off-by: Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20201211184633.3213045-3-samitolvanen@google.com
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