Bug#501741: [linux-2.6] Unset the "Optimize for size" config option (CONFIG_CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_SIZE)

[Roman Mamedov <roman@rm.pp.ru>]

Source: linux-2.6
Severity: wishlist

According to a kernel config file from the current Lenny's 2.6.26 AMD64 kernel, the CONFIG_CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_SIZE option
was set to "y" when this kernel was compiled, which means the optimization for code size instead of speed was chosen.

According to that option's description, it means that the "-Os" option will be passed to the compiler instead of "-O2".
That option disables many of the more advanced optimizations. Documentation on gcc gives the impression that such option
basically says, "I do not care about performance at all, just make the code as small as possible".

While saving 100-200 KB on kernel could be useful in times of machines which had 8-16 MBs of RAM, I think this is no
longer the most reasonable choice currently. Given average amounts of RAM in today's computers, losing the possible
performance advantage in favor of a couple of tens or hundreds KBs of memory seems is no longer a good trade-off. I hope
you consider unsetting that option.

With respect,
Roman.