[PATCH 4/5] kernel hacking: new config DEBUG_EXPERIENCE to apply GCC -Og optimization

From: changbin . du
Date: Tue May 01 2018 - 09:11:27 EST


From: Changbin Du <changbin.du@xxxxxxxxx>

This will apply GCC '-Og' optimization level get supported from
GCC 4.8. This optimization level offers a reasonable level of
optimization while maintaining fast compilation and a good
debugging experience. It is similar to '-O1' while perfer keeping
debug ability over runtime speed.

If enabling this option break your kernel, you should either
disable this or find a fix (mostly in the arch code). Currently
this option has only be tested in qemu x86_64 guest.

This option can satisfy people who was searching for a method
to disable compiler optimizations so to achieve better kernel
debugging experience with kgdb or qemu.

The main problem of '-Og' is we must not use __attribute__((error(smg))).
The compiler will report error though the call to error function
still can be optimize out. So we must fallback to array tricky.

Comparison of vmlinux size: a bit smaller.

w/o CONFIG_DEBUG_EXPERIENCE
$ size vmlinux
text data bss dec hex filename
22665554 9709674 2920908 35296136 21a9388 vmlinux

w/ CONFIG_DEBUG_EXPERIENCE
$ size vmlinux
text data bss dec hex filename
21499032 10102758 2920908 34522698 20ec64a vmlinux

Comparison of system performance: a bit drop.

w/o CONFIG_DEBUG_EXPERIENCE
$ time make -j4
real 6m43.619s
user 19m5.160s
sys 2m20.287s

w/ CONFIG_DEBUG_EXPERIENCE
$ time make -j4
real 6m55.054s
user 19m11.129s
sys 2m36.345s

Signed-off-by: Changbin Du <changbin.du@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Makefile | 4 ++++
include/linux/compiler-gcc.h | 2 +-
include/linux/compiler.h | 2 +-
lib/Kconfig.debug | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
4 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index eb694f6..6a10469 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -639,6 +639,9 @@ KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-disable-warning, format-truncation)
KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-disable-warning, format-overflow)
KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-disable-warning, int-in-bool-context)

+ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_EXPERIENCE
+KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-option, -Og)
+else
ifdef CONFIG_CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_SIZE
KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-option,-Oz,-Os)
KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-disable-warning,maybe-uninitialized,)
@@ -649,6 +652,7 @@ else
KBUILD_CFLAGS += -O2
endif
endif
+endif

KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-ifversion, -lt, 0409, \
$(call cc-disable-warning,maybe-uninitialized,))
diff --git a/include/linux/compiler-gcc.h b/include/linux/compiler-gcc.h
index b4bf73f..b8b3832 100644
--- a/include/linux/compiler-gcc.h
+++ b/include/linux/compiler-gcc.h
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@

#define __UNIQUE_ID(prefix) __PASTE(__PASTE(__UNIQUE_ID_, prefix), __COUNTER__)

-#ifndef __CHECKER__
+#if !defined(__CHECKER__) && !defined(CONFIG_DEBUG_EXPERIENCE)
# define __compiletime_warning(message) __attribute__((warning(message)))
# define __compiletime_error(message) __attribute__((error(message)))
#endif /* __CHECKER__ */
diff --git a/include/linux/compiler.h b/include/linux/compiler.h
index ab4711c..952cc7f 100644
--- a/include/linux/compiler.h
+++ b/include/linux/compiler.h
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ unsigned long read_word_at_a_time(const void *addr)
* sparse see a constant array size without breaking compiletime_assert on old
* versions of GCC (e.g. 4.2.4), so hide the array from sparse altogether.
*/
-# ifndef __CHECKER__
+# if !defined(__CHECKER__) && !defined(CONFIG_DEBUG_EXPERIENCE)
# define __compiletime_error_fallback(condition) \
do { ((void)sizeof(char[1 - 2 * condition])); } while (0)
# endif
diff --git a/lib/Kconfig.debug b/lib/Kconfig.debug
index 90f35ad..2432e77d 100644
--- a/lib/Kconfig.debug
+++ b/lib/Kconfig.debug
@@ -211,6 +211,27 @@ config NO_AUTO_INLINE

Use only if you want to debug the kernel.

+config DEBUG_EXPERIENCE
+ bool "Optimize for better debugging experience (-Og)"
+ default n
+ select NO_AUTO_INLINE
+ depends on !CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_SIZE
+ help
+ This will apply GCC '-Og' optimization level get supported from
+ GCC 4.8. This optimization level offers a reasonable level of
+ optimization while maintaining fast compilation and a good
+ debugging experience. It is similar to '-O1' while perfer keeping
+ debug ability over runtime speed. The overall performance will
+ drop a bit.
+
+ If enabling this option break your kernel, you should either
+ disable this or find a fix (mostly in the arch code). Currently
+ this option has only be tested in qemu x86_64 guest.
+
+ Use only if you want to debug the kernel, especially if you want
+ to have better kernel debugging experience with gdb facilities
+ like kgdb and qemu.
+
config ENABLE_WARN_DEPRECATED
bool "Enable __deprecated logic"
default y
--
2.7.4