diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d876375..dcac858 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,20 @@
 
 SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wall")
 
+# enable link time optimization
+# Cmake doesn't currently support it, so do it by hand for now
+# This is officially supported in cmake 3.9 with the INTROPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION flag
+# use that once 3.9 is readily available.
+if ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "GNU")
+    # the CMAKE_AR version needs to be overridden to avoid a "plugin not found" error
+    SET(CMAKE_AR  "gcc-ar")
+    SET(CMAKE_CXX_ARCHIVE_CREATE "<CMAKE_AR> qcs <TARGET> <LINK_FLAGS> <OBJECTS>")
+    # This turns the ARCHIVE_FINISH command into a no-op, because the archive is already done
+    SET(CMAKE_CXX_ARCHIVE_FINISH   true)
+    SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}-flto -fno-fat-lto-objects")
+    SET(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -flto -fno-fat-lto-objects")
+endif ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "GNU")
+
 SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -fno-rtti")
 SET(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -fno-rtti")