7.54 .linkonce [type]

Mark the current section so that the linker only includes a single copy of it. This may be used to include the same section in several different object files, but ensure that the linker will only include it once in the final output file. The .linkonce pseudo-op must be used for each instance of the section. Duplicate sections are detected based on the section name, so it should be unique.

This directive is only supported by a few object file formats; as of this writing, the only object file format which supports it is the Portable Executable format used on Windows NT.

The type argument is optional. If specified, it must be one of the following strings. For example:

.linkonce same_size

Not all types may be supported on all object file formats.

discard

Silently discard duplicate sections. This is the default.

one_only

Warn if there are duplicate sections, but still keep only one copy.

same_size

Warn if any of the duplicates have different sizes.

same_contents

Warn if any of the duplicates do not have exactly the same contents.