Re: [PATCH v9 04/10] x86: refcount: prevent gcc distortions

Ingo Molnar
2018-10-04T09:01:35Z

* Nadav Amit <namit@vmware.com> wrote:

> Finally, note that it’s not as if the binary always becomes smaller.
> Overall, with the full patch-set it is slightly bigger. But still, that’s
> how it was supposed to be if gcc wasn’t doing things badly.

So what I cited was the changelog for the refcount patch, which according to your
measurements reduced kernel image size.

For other patches where size grew I left that text intact.

And yes, in this particular case a slight increase in kernel size might actually be
beneficial, as we get a lot more straight-line execution in exchange. So this is
not a show-stopper property as long as the bloat isn't large.

Thanks,

Ingo