Can I use static constructors for registration?

[Daniel Keep]

Jason House Wrote:

> In C/C++, the linker will refuse to include a translation unit if 
> there's no call from another translation unit that's already been 
> accepted into the executable.
> 
> Can the same thing occur in D?  I know this is an obscure kind of 
> problem.  Here's some code that could be affected by this kind of issue.
> 
> import myRegistrationMechanism.register
> 
> static this(){
>    register(functionNotUsedAnywhereElse);
> }
> 
> void functionNotUsedAnywhereElse(inout int x){
>    x += 17;
> }

If I remember correctly, OPTLINK (the linker DMD uses under Windows) does this, and gnu link has an option to do it.

Now, using the gnu link option (--gc-sections, I think) *does* cause problems.  However, OPTLINK doesn't.

Also, with that example, all the functions *do* get called.  Specifically, static this() gets called by the _moduleCtor function, which I believe is generated by the compiler at compile time.

So, long and short of it: yes. :)

        -- Daniel