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SubjectRe: [PATCH] check_gcc for i386

On 08.31, Marcelo Tosatti wrote:
>
>
> On Sun, 31 Aug 2003, J.A. Magallon wrote:
>
> >
> > On 08.30, Marcelo Tosatti wrote:
> > >
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > Here goes -pre2. It contains an USB update, PPC merge, m68k merge, IDE
> > > changes from Alan, network drivers update from Jeff, amongst other fixes
> > > and updates.
> > >
> >
> > New try...
> > Plz, could you include this on your queue ?
> >
> > --- linux-2.4.21-bp1/arch/i386/Makefile.orig 2003-06-18 23:40:25.000000000 +0200
> > +++ linux-2.4.21-bp1/arch/i386/Makefile 2003-06-18 23:59:25.000000000 +0200
> > @@ -53,11 +53,11 @@
> > endif
> >
> > ifdef CONFIG_MPENTIUMIII
> > -CFLAGS += -march=i686
> > +CFLAGS += $(call check_gcc,-march=pentium3,-march=i686)
> > endif
> >
> > ifdef CONFIG_MPENTIUM4
> > -CFLAGS += -march=i686
> > +CFLAGS += $(call check_gcc,-march=pentium4,-march=i686)
> > endif
> >
> > ifdef CONFIG_MK6
>
> OK, I forgot what that does. Can you please explain in detail what
> check_gcc does.
>
>

arch/i386/Makefile:

check_gcc = $(shell if $(CC) $(1) -S -o /dev/null -xc /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1; then echo "$(1)"; else echo "$(2)"; fi)

So

$(call check_gcc,-march=pentium3,-march=i686)

checks if gcc supports -march=pentium3 and returns it, if not it returns the
fallbask (-march=i686). So it changes i686 to pentium3 if supported by the
compiler. Same for P4. It will help in instruction scheduling and so on.

I will also answer here to Andre...

>
> This can be a potentially harmful change, suddenly exposing compiler
> bugs and other compiler related problems in the kernel code we have not
> yet seen. On one side, these bugs _should_ get fixed, on the other side,
> we might not find them all before release. Also, the pentium3 and
> pentium4 options have been known to compile for example bad SSE code in
> some gcc versions, something that's giving me a feeling those gcc
> options may be a little immature to use for a stable kernel series.
>

Testing till now:
- Myself ;), on PIII and P4, and also on PII (with additional patch I
would like to submit if this goes in...), all the gccs in mandrake
since 2.96, I think, to 3.3.1
- Some people apart from me is using it and I have not received any
complaint about this.
- My -jam patchset has survived benchmarks of rwhron@earthlink.net,
see http://home.earthlink.net/~rwhron/kernel/bigbox.html.
. It is in 2.6 and nobody has showed any problem.
- We are still in early -pre, so its time to chase bugs...;)

Any question/comment ?

--
J.A. Magallon <jamagallon@able.es> \ Software is like sex:
werewolf.able.es \ It's better when it's free
Mandrake Linux release 9.2 (Cooker) for i586
Linux 2.4.22-jam1m (gcc 3.3.1 (Mandrake Linux 9.2 3.3.1-1mdk))
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