Re: linux-image-2.6.28-1-amd64 is _huuuuge_

[Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org>]

Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org> writes:
>> Previous debian kernel packages were kind of big but the recent
>> packaging of 2.6.28 is _much_ bigger --
>
> Something very suspicious about those sizes too: the size of the .debs
> for those versions is actually more or less the same, seeming to only
> reflect the sort of natural growth you'd expect with the version bump:

A bit more poking around, and the problem seems to the that the
"__this_module" symbol in each kernel module has suddenly grown from
about 4KB to about 64KB.  Is this a bug...?

   $ size /lib/modules/2.6.26-1-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/8139cp.ko
      text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
     17144    5600       0   22744    58d8 /lib/modules/2.6.26-1-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/8139cp.ko
   $ size /lib/modules/2.6.28-1-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/8139cp.ko
      text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
     18216   66896       0   85112   14c78 /lib/modules/2.6.28-1-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/8139cp.ko

   $ readelf -s /lib/modules/2.6.26-1-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/8139cp.ko|grep _this_module
      102: 0000000000000000  4736 OBJECT  GLOBAL DEFAULT   23 __this_module
   $ readelf -s /lib/modules/2.6.28-1-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/8139cp.ko|grep _this_module
      101: 0000000000000000 66048 OBJECT  GLOBAL DEFAULT   23 __this_module

Thanks,

-Miles

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