Re: code bloat [was Re: Semaphore assembly-code bug]

From: Lee Revell
Date: Sat Oct 30 2004 - 17:28:20 EST


On Sun, 2004-10-31 at 01:11 +0300, Denis Vlasenko wrote:
> Well, I can try to compile packages with different options
> for size, I can link against small libc, but I feel this
> does not solve the problem: the code itself is bloated...
>
> I am not a code genius, but want to help.
>
> Hmm probably some bloat-detection tools would be helpful,
> like "show me source_lines/object_size ratios of fonctions in
> this ELF object file". Those with low ratio are suspects of
> excessive inlining etc.
>
> More ideas, anyone?

I ageww it's a hard problem. Right now there is massive pressure on
Linux application developers to add features to catch up with MS and
Apple. This inevitably leads to bloat, we all know that efficiency is
the first thing to go out the window in that situation, the problem is
exacerbated by the wide availability of fast machines. It's an old,
depressing story...

That being said it would indeed be nice if we had more tools to quantify
bloat.

Lee

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/