From: Sergei Trofimovich <sly...@gentoo.org> Hi guys!
TL;DR: the patches remove (currently or already) dead code and localize symbol visibility used only in one module. Thanks! The Story: Once upon a time I've got very simple idea to find dead code in large C/C++ mixed project at work. The things of my primary interest were things of too large visibility scope, like: - externally visible global variables used only in module defining the variable - and functions of the same property Once you identify those functions and mark as 'static' you achieve two goals: - minor: give compiler possibility to inline code a bit better (especially for one-caller case) - more interesting: possibility to spot that the symbol is no longer used at all Hence the project idea: 1. scan all intermediate object (.o) files for exported symbols 2. find such symbols that are not imported into any .o files Meet uselex.rb: one-file script to parse 'nm' output: https://github.com/trofi/uselex/blob/master/uselex.rb For linux's kernel it's use is as simple as: $ make $config && make $ uselex.rb `find -name '*.o'` and you've got material to look at! It outputs 3000 symbols thus I've started small: $ uselex.rb `find fs/btrfs -name '*.o' To get an impression it reports such things: set_state_private: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o fs/btrfs/extent_io.o btrfs_get_inode_ref_index: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/inode-item.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o btrfs_print_tree: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/print-tree.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o btrfs_reada_detach: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/reada.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o __btrfs_getxattr: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/xattr.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o __btrfs_setxattr: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/xattr.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o btrfs_read_root_item: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/root-tree.o fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o __tracepoint_btrfs_sync_fs: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/super.o fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o btrfs_start_transaction_lflush: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/transaction.o fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o btrfs_write_and_wait_marked_extents: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/transaction.o fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o ulist_fini: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/ulist.o fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o ulist_init: [R]: exported from: fs/btrfs/ulist.o fs/btrfs/built-in.o fs/btrfs/btrfs.o You just need to make sure it does not lie too much. For example '__btrfs_getxattr' needs to be brought under '#ifdef CONFIG_BTRFS_FS_POSIX_ACL' and not removed entirely. Thanks for your patience! -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/