How to find the code that blows up the size of my application?

Question

I have a C++ Windows application that uses STL, boost and several other libs. Application does not do much but have a big size. I have to find a way to reduce the size of the app, but I do not understand which part of these libraries blows up the size of my app.

(Maybe I can switch STL/boost, or implement smth by myself, or do smth by a different way, etc...)

Does we have any tools/guides to investigate imported symbols and find out which give biggest increment to the size of the app?

UPDATE

I'm asking about release build.

I do not ask about configuration of compiler, but I ask about the tool that will tell what parts of my code give the biggest increase of the size of my app.

All libs included statically. Therefore if I could remove heavy-weight dependencies size of the app will be significantly smaller.

On Unix, `nm` is a useful tool https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nm_(Unix) — Chris Beck, Jun 10 '16 at 22:32
@ChrisBeck Thank you. I'll try `nm` if I do not find smth for Windows... — Victor Mezrin, Jun 10 '16 at 22:35
Boost might be big: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2839172/why-my-c-output-executable-is-so-big — Drakosha, Jun 10 '16 at 22:49
Are .lib files that the app link against large? If yes, and you need those libs, then not much can be done about the size. Why is size important? — Dialecticus, Jun 10 '16 at 22:51
@Dialecticus But if I knew which lib gives huge increase of the size of the app I could try to remove that dependency... — Victor Mezrin, Jun 10 '16 at 22:57
In Visual Studio you can use [/VERBOSE:LIB](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/wdsk6as6.aspx) to see that. — Dialecticus, Jun 10 '16 at 23:00
I know about that flag. But with this flag I do not know list of the methods imported from the lib. And I do not know size of the methods... — Victor Mezrin, Jun 10 '16 at 23:03
Remove that .lib from the list and then the linker will complain about the missing functions. — Dialecticus, Jun 10 '16 at 23:06
Have the linker generate a map file ([/MAP](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/k7xkk3e2.aspx)). — IInspectable, Jun 10 '16 at 23:08
Size of the methods (functions even) are not important. As far as I know the whole lib is included, so you have to replace all the functions to remove the lib from the picture. — Dialecticus, Jun 10 '16 at 23:09
You might be able to reduce the size by using global optimization. I haven't tried that though. But it stands to reason: knowledge about the complete program is needed in order to eliminate dead code. — Cheers and hth. - Alf, Jun 10 '16 at 23:27

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

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Boost is big library. If you need Boost you do not need STL.

If STL is enough for your needs then you can use just STL.

Also, I think you can configure Visual Studio to print to the output the trace of the linking process.

Some ideas for inspecting libs are here:

How to See the Contents of Windows library (*.lib)

Tools for inspecting .lib files?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

Community

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answered Jun 10 '16 at 22:45

sg7

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Ok. For example I need boost.thread. I can use flag `/VERBOSE:LIB` and see that my app linked against this lib. But I do not know list of the methods imported from the lib. And I do not know size of the methods... – Victor Mezrin Jun 10 '16 at 23:00
@VictorMezrin I added some possibly helpful links from stackoverflow. – sg7 Jun 10 '16 at 23:21

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 10 '16 at 22:30

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Are you looking at debug build? That might be bigger. What about doing strip on the executable?

answered Jun 10 '16 at 22:30

Drakosha

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No, I'm asking about release build – Victor Mezrin Jun 10 '16 at 22:31
How about strip, does that help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1540523/strip-executable ? – Drakosha Jun 10 '16 at 22:37
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`Strip` removes symbol info that is used for debugging purposes. On Windows (VS2015) debugging info not placed in the release build. – Victor Mezrin Jun 10 '16 at 22:43

How to find the code that blows up the size of my application?

2 Answers2