On Mon, 15 Nov 1999, Gandalf Mithrandir wrote:
> some part of the kernel is really written in assembly (whichever
> processor) - is that optimized? If not, for example, can we do
> anything to optimize there?
There is very very little of assembly in the sources, so optimising (if at
all possible) would be of little value. The boot up code is superb
*educational* material though. If you want to learn how to write boot
loaders or are just curious about what needs to be done to get your OS up,
there is no better place to look than /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot.
A better way to optimise the core parts of the kernel at this stage would
be to optimise gcc/egcs/pgcc itself so that it generates better code ;)
The egcs FAQ has some interesting points to make about recompiling the
linux kernel using egs. There you will also find some statements about non
standard asm constructs that *used* to break the kernel under egcs. While
using egcs is a no-no for 2.0 kernels, there are no definitive statements
about 2.2 kernels.
> Does it then make sense to avoid downloading binaries WHENEVER < Prof
> G.'s points accepted!> possible?
No. I think Shanker's point is well argued. Recompile wherever better
performance and stability are guaranteed.
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