[lld] [LLD][COFF] Merge .bss at end of .data section. (PR #137677)

[via llvm-commits]

https://github.com/jeremyd2019 created https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/137677

Because it is full of zeros, it is expected that as much of it as possible is elided from the actual image, and that cannot happen if there is initialized data in the section after it.

>From ae6695597f7adb6460c34ba6e80d9303c37f7c55 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jeremy Drake <github at jdrake.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2025 10:46:47 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] [LLD][COFF] Merge .bss at end of .data section.

Because it is full of zeros, it is expected that as much of it as
possible is elided from the actual image, and that cannot happen if
there is initialized data in the section after it.
---
 lld/test/COFF/merge-data-bss.test | 92 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 92 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 lld/test/COFF/merge-data-bss.test

diff --git a/lld/test/COFF/merge-data-bss.test b/lld/test/COFF/merge-data-bss.test
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a821f8d6e9048
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lld/test/COFF/merge-data-bss.test
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+# RUN: yaml2obj %s -o %t.obj
+# RUN: lld-link /out:%t.exe /entry:main /subsystem:console /force \
+# RUN:   /merge:.other=.data %t.obj /debug
+# RUN: llvm-readobj --sections %t.exe | FileCheck %s
+
+# CHECK:      Name: .data
+# CHECK-NEXT: VirtualSize: 0x2018
+# CHECK-NEXT: VirtualAddress: 0x3000
+# CHECK-NEXT: RawDataSize: 512
+# CHECK-NOT: Name: .other
+
+--- !COFF
+header:
+  Machine:         IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_AMD64
+  Characteristics: [  ]
+sections:
+  - Name:            .text
+    Characteristics: [ IMAGE_SCN_CNT_CODE, IMAGE_SCN_MEM_EXECUTE, IMAGE_SCN_MEM_READ ]
+    Alignment:       4
+    SectionData:     '90'
+    SizeOfRawData:   1
+  - Name:            .data
+    Characteristics: [ IMAGE_SCN_CNT_INITIALIZED_DATA, IMAGE_SCN_MEM_READ, IMAGE_SCN_MEM_WRITE ]
+    Alignment:       4
+    SectionData:     '010000000000000002'
+    SizeOfRawData:   9
+  - Name:            .bss
+    Characteristics: [ IMAGE_SCN_CNT_UNINITIALIZED_DATA, IMAGE_SCN_MEM_READ, IMAGE_SCN_MEM_WRITE ]
+    Alignment:       4
+    SectionData:     ''
+    SizeOfRawData:   8192
+  - Name:            .other
+    Characteristics: [ IMAGE_SCN_CNT_INITIALIZED_DATA, IMAGE_SCN_MEM_READ, IMAGE_SCN_MEM_WRITE ]
+    Alignment:       4
+    SectionData:     '030000000000000004'
+    SizeOfRawData:   9
+symbols:
+  - Name:            .text
+    Value:           0
+    SectionNumber:   1
+    SimpleType:      IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_NULL
+    ComplexType:     IMAGE_SYM_DTYPE_NULL
+    StorageClass:    IMAGE_SYM_CLASS_STATIC
+    SectionDefinition:
+      Length:          1
+      NumberOfRelocations: 0
+      NumberOfLinenumbers: 0
+      CheckSum:        4027552580
+      Number:          1
+  - Name:            .data
+    Value:           0
+    SectionNumber:   2
+    SimpleType:      IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_NULL
+    ComplexType:     IMAGE_SYM_DTYPE_NULL
+    StorageClass:    IMAGE_SYM_CLASS_STATIC
+    SectionDefinition:
+      Length:          9
+      NumberOfRelocations: 0
+      NumberOfLinenumbers: 0
+      CheckSum:        4185224559
+      Number:          2
+  - Name:            .bss
+    Value:           0
+    SectionNumber:   3
+    SimpleType:      IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_NULL
+    ComplexType:     IMAGE_SYM_DTYPE_NULL
+    StorageClass:    IMAGE_SYM_CLASS_STATIC
+    SectionDefinition:
+      Length:          8192
+      NumberOfRelocations: 0
+      NumberOfLinenumbers: 0
+      CheckSum:        0
+      Number:          3
+  - Name:            .other
+    Value:           0
+    SectionNumber:   4
+    SimpleType:      IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_NULL
+    ComplexType:     IMAGE_SYM_DTYPE_NULL
+    StorageClass:    IMAGE_SYM_CLASS_STATIC
+    SectionDefinition:
+      Length:          9
+      NumberOfRelocations: 0
+      NumberOfLinenumbers: 0
+      CheckSum:        1054931164
+      Number:          4
+  - Name:            main
+    Value:           0
+    SectionNumber:   1
+    SimpleType:      IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_NULL
+    ComplexType:     IMAGE_SYM_DTYPE_NULL
+    StorageClass:    IMAGE_SYM_CLASS_EXTERNAL
+...