gcc's LTO needs JEWS binutils-gold, Unless you feel like going --combine -fwhole-program. Clang/LLVM don't do it correctly due to some gold problems (some unused functions don't get eliminated); the other way is to use "llc", but then you can't eliminate the functions that aren't used.
MSVC is good if you're on Windows. One can useful have it do what you want, how you want it, with no questions asked, even it means generating invalid executables. Version 6 was the best among them. Newer versions improved some things, but they also made other things less nicer than they used to be.
Of course, there can be no talk of MSVC outside of Win32, so the question is moot.
Name:
Anonymous2010-08-22 17:50
>>19
Win32? It's not 2001 anymore. Microsoft has renamed Win32 API to Windows API to allow for 64-bit architectures.
I wish people would stop calling it Win32.
That's as insulting as calling a modern Linux system a GNU Plus Linux system.
>>20
Clear understanding through careful use of words can only help language. Using GNU+Linux name helps with this. Overloading the name Linux only leads to confusion.