diff --git a/brightray/brightray.gyp b/brightray/brightray.gyp
index 83b325d447d..1a590987ab4 100644
--- a/brightray/brightray.gyp
+++ b/brightray/brightray.gyp
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@
         'common/main_delegate_mac.mm',
       ],
       'conditions': [
+        # Link with libraries of libchromiumcontent.
         ['OS=="linux" and libchromiumcontent_component==0', {
           # On Linux we have to use "--whole-archive" to force executable
           # to include all symbols, otherwise we will have plenty of
@@ -110,30 +111,43 @@
           },
         }],
         ['OS=="linux"', {
-          'cflags_cc': [
-            '-Wno-deprecated-register',
-            '-fno-rtti',
-          ],
+          'variables': {
+            'system_libraries': 'gtk+-2.0 libnotify dbus-1 x11 xrandr xext gconf-2.0',
+          },
           'link_settings': {
             'ldflags': [
-              '<!@(pkg-config --libs-only-L --libs-only-other gtk+-2.0 libnotify dbus-1 x11 xrandr xext gconf-2.0)',
+              '<!@(pkg-config --libs-only-L --libs-only-other <(system_libraries))',
             ],
             'libraries': [
               '-lpthread',
-              '<!@(pkg-config --libs-only-l gtk+-2.0 libnotify dbus-1 x11 xrandr xext gconf-2.0)',
+              '<!@(pkg-config --libs-only-l <(system_libraries))',
+            ],
+          },
+          'cflags': [
+            '<!@(pkg-config --cflags <(system_libraries))',
+            # Needed by using libgtk2ui:
+            '-Wno-deprecated-register',
+          ],
+          'direct_dependent_settings': {
+            'cflags': [
+              '<!@(pkg-config --cflags <(system_libraries))',
+              '-Wno-deprecated-register',
             ],
           },
           'conditions': [
             ['libchromiumcontent_component', {
               'link_settings': {
                 'libraries': [
+                  # libgtk2ui is always linked statically.
                   '<(libchromiumcontent_dir)/libgtk2ui.a',
                 ],
               },
             }, {
               'link_settings': {
                 'libraries': [
+                  # libboringssl is always linked dynamically.
                   '<(libchromiumcontent_dir)/libboringssl.so',
+                  # Following libraries are required by libchromiumcontent:
                   '-lasound',
                   '-lcap',
                   '-lcups',
diff --git a/brightray/brightray.gypi b/brightray/brightray.gypi
index e0336b0bbf5..c8d9d7ff150 100644
--- a/brightray/brightray.gypi
+++ b/brightray/brightray.gypi
@@ -110,9 +110,27 @@
               'USE_X11',
             ],
           }],
+          ['OS=="linux"', {
+            'cflags_cc': [
+              '-D__STRICT_ANSI__',
+              '-std=gnu++11',
+              '-fno-rtti',
+            ],
+          }],  # OS=="linux"
         ],
       },  # Common_Base
       'Debug_Base': {
+        'defines': [
+          # Use this instead of "NDEBUG" to determine whether we are in
+          # Debug build, because "NDEBUG" is already used by Chromium.
+          'DEBUG',
+          # Require when using libchromiumcontent.
+          'COMPONENT_BUILD',
+          'GURL_DLL',
+          'SKIA_DLL',
+          'USING_V8_SHARED',
+          'WEBKIT_DLL',
+        ],
         'msvs_settings': {
           'VCCLCompilerTool': {
             'RuntimeLibrary': '2',  # /MD (nondebug DLL)
@@ -181,6 +199,27 @@
             ],
           },
         },
+        'conditions': [
+          ['OS=="linux"', {
+            'cflags': [
+              '-O2',
+              # Don't emit the GCC version ident directives, they just end up
+              # in the .comment section taking up binary size.
+              '-fno-ident',
+              # Put data and code in their own sections, so that unused symbols
+              # can be removed at link time with --gc-sections.
+              '-fdata-sections',
+              '-ffunction-sections',
+            ],
+            'ldflags': [
+              # Specifically tell the linker to perform optimizations.
+              # See http://lwn.net/Articles/192624/ .
+              '-Wl,-O1',
+              '-Wl,--as-needed',
+              '-Wl,--gc-sections',
+            ],
+          }],  # OS=="linux"
+        ],
       },  # Release_Base
       'conditions': [
         ['libchromiumcontent_component', {
@@ -241,14 +280,7 @@
           ['exclude', '_win\.(cc|h)$'],
         ],
       }],
-      ['OS=="linux"', {
-        'cflags_cc': [
-          '-D__STRICT_ANSI__',
-          '-std=gnu++11',
-          '-fno-rtti',
-          '<!@(pkg-config --cflags gtk+-2.0)',
-        ],
-      }, {
+      ['OS!="linux"', {
         'sources/': [
           ['exclude', '/linux/'],
           ['exclude', '_linux\.(cc|h)$'],
@@ -257,17 +289,6 @@
     ],
   },
   'conditions': [
-    ['libchromiumcontent_component', {
-      'target_defaults': {
-        'defines': [
-          'COMPONENT_BUILD',
-          'GURL_DLL',
-          'SKIA_DLL',
-          'USING_V8_SHARED',
-          'WEBKIT_DLL',
-        ],
-      },
-    }],
     ['OS=="win"', {
       'target_defaults': {
         'include_dirs': [