enable LTO in optimized builds

gives 2-5% performance improvement across a board of tests.
LTO is broken when using clang; some libs link fine while others crash
the linker with a segfault in the llvm linker plugin. 🙁

Makefile

@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ makefiles = \
 OPTIMIZE = 1
 
 ifeq ($(OPTIMIZE), 1)
-  GLOBAL_CXXFLAGS += -O3
+  GLOBAL_CXXFLAGS += -O3 $(CXXLTO)
+  GLOBAL_LDFLAGS += $(CXXLTO)
 else
   GLOBAL_CXXFLAGS += -O0 -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE
 endif

Makefile.config.in

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ CC = @CC@
 CFLAGS = @CFLAGS@
 CXX = @CXX@
 CXXFLAGS = @CXXFLAGS@
+CXXLTO = @CXXLTO@
 EDITLINE_LIBS = @EDITLINE_LIBS@
 ENABLE_S3 = @ENABLE_S3@
 GTEST_LIBS = @GTEST_LIBS@

configure.ac

@@ -147,6 +147,20 @@ if test "x$GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS_NEED_LIBATOMIC" = xyes; then
     LDFLAGS="-latomic $LDFLAGS"
 fi
 
+# LTO is currently broken with clang for unknown reasons; ld segfaults in the llvm plugin
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(lto, AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-lto],[Enable LTO (only supported with GCC) [default=no]]),
+  lto=$enableval, lto=no)
+if test "$lto" = yes; then
+    if $CXX --version | grep -q GCC; then
+        AC_SUBST(CXXLTO, [-flto=jobserver])
+    else
+        echo "error: LTO is only supported with GCC at the moment" >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+else
+    AC_SUBST(CXXLTO, [""])
+fi
+
 PKG_PROG_PKG_CONFIG
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(shared, AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-shared],[Build shared libraries for Nix [default=yes]]),

doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md

@@ -26,3 +26,6 @@
 
 * Templates can now define a `welcomeText` attribute, which is printed out by
   `nix flake {init,new} --template <template>`.
+
+* Nix can now be built with LTO by passing `--enable-lto` to `configure`.
+  LTO is currently only supported when building with GCC.

mk/libraries.mk

@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ define build-library
     $(1)_PATH := $$(_d)/$$($(1)_NAME).$(SO_EXT)
 
     $$($(1)_PATH): $$($(1)_OBJS) $$(_libs) | $$(_d)/
-	$$(trace-ld) $(CXX) -o $$(abspath $$@) -shared $$(LDFLAGS) $$(GLOBAL_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_OBJS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS_PROPAGATED) $$(foreach lib, $$($(1)_LIBS), $$($$(lib)_LDFLAGS_USE)) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS_UNINSTALLED)
+	+$$(trace-ld) $(CXX) -o $$(abspath $$@) -shared $$(LDFLAGS) $$(GLOBAL_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_OBJS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS_PROPAGATED) $$(foreach lib, $$($(1)_LIBS), $$($$(lib)_LDFLAGS_USE)) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS_UNINSTALLED)
 
     ifndef HOST_DARWIN
       $(1)_LDFLAGS_USE += -Wl,-rpath,$$(abspath $$(_d))
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ define build-library
     $$(eval $$(call create-dir, $$($(1)_INSTALL_DIR)))
 
     $$($(1)_INSTALL_PATH): $$($(1)_OBJS) $$(_libs_final) | $(DESTDIR)$$($(1)_INSTALL_DIR)/
-	$$(trace-ld) $(CXX) -o $$@ -shared $$(LDFLAGS) $$(GLOBAL_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_OBJS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS_PROPAGATED) $$(foreach lib, $$($(1)_LIBS), $$($$(lib)_LDFLAGS_USE_INSTALLED))
+	+$$(trace-ld) $(CXX) -o $$@ -shared $$(LDFLAGS) $$(GLOBAL_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_OBJS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS_PROPAGATED) $$(foreach lib, $$($(1)_LIBS), $$($$(lib)_LDFLAGS_USE_INSTALLED))
 
     $(1)_LDFLAGS_USE_INSTALLED += -L$$(DESTDIR)$$($(1)_INSTALL_DIR) -l$$(patsubst lib%,%,$$(strip $$($(1)_NAME)))
     ifndef HOST_DARWIN
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ define build-library
     $(1)_PATH := $$(_d)/$$($(1)_NAME).a
 
     $$($(1)_PATH): $$($(1)_OBJS) | $$(_d)/
-	$$(trace-ld) $(LD) -Ur -o $$(_d)/$$($(1)_NAME).o $$?
+	+$$(trace-ld) $(LD) -Ur -o $$(_d)/$$($(1)_NAME).o $$?
 	$$(trace-ar) $(AR) crs $$@ $$(_d)/$$($(1)_NAME).o
 
     $(1)_LDFLAGS_USE += $$($(1)_PATH) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS)

mk/programs.mk

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ define build-program
   $$(eval $$(call create-dir, $$(_d)))
 
   $$($(1)_PATH): $$($(1)_OBJS) $$(_libs) | $$(_d)/
-	$$(trace-ld) $(CXX) -o $$@ $$(LDFLAGS) $$(GLOBAL_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_OBJS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS) $$(foreach lib, $$($(1)_LIBS), $$($$(lib)_LDFLAGS_USE))
+	+$$(trace-ld) $(CXX) -o $$@ $$(LDFLAGS) $$(GLOBAL_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_OBJS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS) $$(foreach lib, $$($(1)_LIBS), $$($$(lib)_LDFLAGS_USE))
 
   $(1)_INSTALL_DIR ?= $$(bindir)
 
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ define build-program
       _libs_final := $$(foreach lib, $$($(1)_LIBS), $$($$(lib)_INSTALL_PATH))
 
       $(DESTDIR)$$($(1)_INSTALL_PATH): $$($(1)_OBJS) $$(_libs_final) | $(DESTDIR)$$($(1)_INSTALL_DIR)/
-	$$(trace-ld) $(CXX) -o $$@ $$(LDFLAGS) $$(GLOBAL_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_OBJS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS) $$(foreach lib, $$($(1)_LIBS), $$($$(lib)_LDFLAGS_USE_INSTALLED))
+	+$$(trace-ld) $(CXX) -o $$@ $$(LDFLAGS) $$(GLOBAL_LDFLAGS) $$($(1)_OBJS) $$($(1)_LDFLAGS) $$(foreach lib, $$($(1)_LIBS), $$($$(lib)_LDFLAGS_USE_INSTALLED))
 
     else