[PATCH] x86: Use -m-omit-leaf-frame-pointer to shrink text size

From: Ingo Molnar
Date: Fri Dec 16 2011 - 03:21:14 EST



This patch turns on -momit-leaf-frame-pointer on x86 builds and
thus shrinks .text noticeably. On a defconfig-ish kernel:

text data bss dec hex filename
9843902 1935808 3649536 15429246 eb6e7e vmlinux.before
9813764 1935792 3649536 15399092 eaf8b4 vmlinux.after

That's 0.3% off text size.

The actual win is larger than this percentage suggests: many
small, hot helper functions such as find_next_bit(),
do_raw_spin_lock() or most of the list_*() functions are leaf
functions and are now shorter by 2 instructions.

Probably a good chunk of the framepointers related runtime
overhead on common workloads is eliminated via this patch, as
small leaf functions execute more often than larger parent
functions.

The call-chains are still intact for quality backtraces and for
call-chain profiling (perf record -g), as the backtrace walker
can deduct the full backtrace from the RIP of a leaf function
and the parent chain.

Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/Makefile | 8 ++++++++
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)

Index: linux/arch/x86/Makefile
===================================================================
--- linux.orig/arch/x86/Makefile
+++ linux/arch/x86/Makefile
@@ -72,6 +72,14 @@ else
KBUILD_CFLAGS += -maccumulate-outgoing-args
endif

+#
+# This shrinks many small functions, we don't actually
+# need their frame pointer, in backtraces the RIP will
+# identify the function and the stack frame walker will
+# find the parent function:
+#
+KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-option,-momit-leaf-frame-pointer)
+
ifdef CONFIG_CC_STACKPROTECTOR
cc_has_sp := $(srctree)/scripts/gcc-x86_$(BITS)-has-stack-protector.sh
ifeq ($(shell $(CONFIG_SHELL) $(cc_has_sp) $(CC) $(KBUILD_CPPFLAGS) $(biarch)),y)
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