Compiling an OpenBSD kernel 50% faster | Hacker News Reader

Compiling an OpenBSD kernel 50% faster

flak.tedunangst.com

117 pointsingve16 comments

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> the bad idea circus is in town...

What a fun post!

> The object files are so large because the kernel is initially compiled with debug symbols.

Is there a way to build without producing debug symbols in the first place?

> Is there a way to build without producing debug symbols in the first place?

Probably takes all of 15 minutes to identify the flags needed and then run the new makefile lol

You can pass -g0 to gcc to do so [0]

[0] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Debugging-Options.html

Or remove -g from the flags already passed, since the compiler actually defaults to not producing debug info.

It took me way too long to realize that the author was just having fun with insane ideas, not trying to solve a real problem. Great post:)

I'm a noob. Does OpenBSD not have an alternative to config (make menuconfig) on Linux that does not to compile drivers you don't need?

You can just edit the kernel config file before compiling.

https://github.com/openbsd/src/blob/master/sys/arch/amd64/co...

For normal usage on amd64 and i386(?), it is recommended not to compile the kernel. I think the article is geared to Developers and testers of OpenBSD.

It does. The author is doing things wrong on purpose:)

Yes, there was a brief humorous reference to that in the article: "The correct approach would be to run config after editing the kernel config, but the plot restricts us from doing that."

> And now I will be patenting this technique to prevent anyone else from doing something so idiotic.

For years i was searching for an answer to the question: why some company registers so many patents. It never occured to me that this might be the answer. Thanks for the hint.