[v4,3/4] kernel hacking: new config CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_DEBUGGING to apply GCC -Og optimization

From: Changbin Du <changbin.du@intel.com>

From: Changbin Du <changbin.du@intel.com>

This will apply GCC '-Og' optimization level which is supported
since 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 perferring
to keep debug ability over runtime speed.

If enabling this option breaks your kernel, you should either
disable this or find a fix (mostly in the arch code). Currently
this option has only been tested on x86_64 and arm platform.

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(msg))).
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_CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_DEBUGGING
    $ size vmlinux
       text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
    22665554   9709674  2920908 35296136        21a9388 vmlinux

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

Comparison of system performance: a bit drop (~6%).
    This benchmark of kernel compilation is suggested by Ingo Molnar.
    https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/5/2/74

    Preparation: Set cpufreq to 'performance'.
    for ((cpu=0; cpu<120; cpu++)); do
      G=/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu$cpu/cpufreq/scaling_governor
      [ -f $G ] && echo performance > $G
    done

    w/o CONFIG_CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_DEBUGGING
    $ perf stat --repeat 5 --null --pre                 '\
        cp -a kernel ../kernel.copy.$(date +%s);         \
        rm -rf *;                                        \
        git checkout .;                                  \
        echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches;               \
        find ../kernel* -type f | xargs cat >/dev/null;  \
        make -j kernel >/dev/null;                       \
        make clean >/dev/null 2>&1;                      \
        sync                                            '\
                                                         \
        make -j8 >/dev/null

    Performance counter stats for 'make -j8' (5 runs):

        219.764246652 seconds time elapsed                   ( +-  0.78% )

    w/ CONFIG_CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_DEBUGGING
    $ perf stat --repeat 5 --null --pre                 '\
        cp -a kernel ../kernel.copy.$(date +%s);         \
        rm -rf *;                                        \
        git checkout .;                                  \
        echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches;               \
        find ../kernel* -type f | xargs cat >/dev/null;  \
        make -j kernel >/dev/null;                       \
        make clean >/dev/null 2>&1;                      \
        sync                                            '\
                                                         \
        make -j8 >/dev/null

    Performance counter stats for 'make -j8' (5 runs):

         233.574187771 seconds time elapsed                  ( +-  0.19% )

Signed-off-by: Changbin Du <changbin.du@intel.com>

---
v3:
  o Rename DEBUG_EXPERIENCE to CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_DEBUGGING
  o Move new configuration item to "General setup->Compiler optimization level"
v2:
  o Improve performance benchmark as suggested by Ingo.
  o Grammar updates in description. (Randy Dunlap)
---
 Makefile                     |  4 ++++
 include/linux/compiler-gcc.h |  2 +-
 include/linux/compiler.h     |  2 +-
 init/Kconfig                 | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

[v4,3/4] kernel hacking: new config CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_DEBUGGING to apply GCC -Og optimization

Commit Message

Comments

Patch