Reduced save and restore instructions for call-clobbered registers

A method and associated computer program product are disclosed for generating an executable file from an object file, the object file being associated with an architecture having a predefined calling convention designating one or more call-clobbered registers. The method comprises identifying, from a first annotation included in the object file with a function call instruction, at least one restore instruction that follows the function call instruction, the function call instruction associated with a predefined function of the object file. The at least one restore instruction corresponds to at least one of the one or more call-clobbered registers. The method further comprises determining, based on at least a first list of registers that are referenced by the predefined function, the first list being included in the object file, whether to eliminate the at least one restore instruction.