DEAD FUNCTIONS ELIMINATION IN DYNAMIC LINKED LIBRARIES FOR CODE SIZE REDUCTION OF OPERATING SYSTEMS IN EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

摘要

This invention relates to a method for reducing the size of a set of computer code by replacing unused functions in the set of code with void functions having no operative content. The invention may be applied to a core operating system in order to reduce the amount of code that is permanently loaded on a computing device while the device is operating, thereby potentially reducing the requirements for both read-only non-execute-in-place memory and randomly addressable memory. The removed functionality may be provided separately in read-only memory if desired, so that it can be loaded when needed.