https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=68626
--- Comment #5 from Andrew Pinski <pinskia at gcc dot gnu.org> --- (In reply to john.frankish from comment #4) > $echo 'int f(void) { return 0; }' > test.c > $ cc test.c -c -flto -fuse-linker-plugin > $ nm test.o > 0000000000000001 C __gnu_lto_slim > 0000000000000001 C __gnu_lto_v1 Which means it is not using the plugin at all. How did you configure binutils? Did you configure binutils with --enable-plugins ? If you did not, then bfd will not use the plugins, though ld will.