diff --git a/newlib/configure.host b/newlib/configure.host
index 9e809c9a8..27bce36a1 100644
--- a/newlib/configure.host
+++ b/newlib/configure.host
@@ -637,6 +637,7 @@ case "${host}" in
   *-*-rtems*)
 	default_newlib_io_long_long="yes"
 	default_newlib_io_c99_formats="yes"
+	newlib_cflags="${newlib_cflags} -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections "
 	newlib_cflags="${newlib_cflags} -D_COMPILING_NEWLIB"
 newlib_cflags="${newlib_cflags} -DCLOCK_PROVIDED -DMALLOC_PROVIDED -DEXIT_PROVIDED -DSIGNAL_PROVIDED -DGETREENT_PROVIDED -DREENTRANT_SYSCALLS_PROVIDED -DHAVE_NANOSLEEP -DHAVE_BLKSIZE -DHAVE_FCNTL -DHAVE_ASSERT_FUNC"
         # turn off unsupported items in posix directory