How Link-Time Optimization Works in Go

Link-Time Optimization (LTO) in Go is not a standard feature; the compiler optimizes packages individually before linking them together. To achieve cross-package optimizations, you must use the -ldflags=-s -w flags to strip debug info and reduce binary size, or rely on the compiler's automatic inlining which works across package boundaries if functions are small enough.

go build -ldflags="-s -w" -o myapp main.go

For advanced control over inlining, use //go:noinline or //go:inline directives in your source code to force or prevent specific function optimizations.

Go does not perform Link-Time Optimization like C++ does. Instead, it optimizes each piece of code separately before combining them. You can still make your program faster and smaller by telling the compiler to remove unnecessary debug information and by letting it automatically merge small functions together.