Optimization for slow platforms (Re: Changes in dpkg Pre-Depends)

[Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>]

Thomas Weber wrote:
>>> Le mardi 23 février 2010 à 14:43 +0100, Marco d'Itri a écrit : 
>>>> Using non-PIC code for a 5% speed up looks like an acceptable trade off
>>>> to me, but it really must be restricted only to architectures which
>>>> need it.
[...]
> You have x86 hardware that is so old that it doesn't run amd64, but at
> the same moment you care about speed?

Yes, it is when you are stuck on a computer like this one that slow
programs really start to feel painful.

IMHO the choice of what to optimize should be based on what code is
used most often (or whose running time is particularly harmful for
other reasons), not what happens to be running on the most expensive
hardware.

In this case the speed difference from using non-PIC code is
noticeable.  But the memory pressure from not sharing code between
processes might mean it is not worth it --- I am really torn.

Jonathan