This article explains techniques for shrinking the size of a Rust static library intended for use with Go. It details the process of removing unused code, optimizing linked sections, and converting LLVM bitcode to achieve a significantly smaller library file. The author shares practical steps and results of the optimization efforts.

The article investigates the effects of inlining all functions in LLVM, a key optimization technique in compilers. It discusses the potential drawbacks, such as code duplication and increased compile times, while conducting experiments to assess runtime performance when ignoring these constraints. Ultimately, it highlights the complexities involved in modifying LLVM's inlining behavior and shares insights from experimental results.