Optimize build configurations

When configuring CMake builds, carefully select compiler and linker flags that optimize for performance while maintaining cross-platform compatibility. Performance-oriented flags can significantly impact runtime speed, binary size, and resource utilization, but must be applied conditionally based on the target platform and compiler.

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When configuring CMake builds, carefully select compiler and linker flags that optimize for performance while maintaining cross-platform compatibility. Performance-oriented flags can significantly impact runtime speed, binary size, and resource utilization, but must be applied conditionally based on the target platform and compiler.

Key practices:

  • Research the performance implications of compilation flags before applying them (e.g., DYNAMIC_EXECUTION=0 may slow down WebAssembly bindings)
  • Use conditional compilation to apply platform-specific optimizations (e.g., --gc-sections for GCC/Clang vs --dead_strip for AppleClang)
  • Enable standard performance flags like CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON for better code generation
  • Consider alternative optimization strategies when default flags cause performance regressions

Example of conditional linker optimization:

target_link_options(yoga PRIVATE
    # Discard unused sections
    $<$<CONFIG:RELEASE>:$<$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:Clang,GNU>:-Wl,--gc-sections>>
    $<$<CONFIG:RELEASE>:$<$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:AppleClang>:-Wl,-dead_strip>>)

This approach ensures optimal performance across different build environments while avoiding platform-specific build failures.

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