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The __memzero assembly code is almost identical to memset's except for two orr instructions. The runtime performance of __memset(p, n) and memset(p, 0, n) is accordingly almost identical. However, the memset() macro used to guard against a zero length and to call __memzero at compile time when the fill value is a constant zero interferes with compiler optimizations. Arnd found tha the test against a zero length brings up some new warnings with gcc v8: https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=82103 And successively rremoving the test against a zero length and the call to __memzero optimization produces the following kernel sizes for defconfig with gcc 6: text data bss dec hex filename 12248142 6278960 413588 18940690 1210312 vmlinux.orig 12244474 6278960 413588 18937022 120f4be vmlinux.no_zero_test 12239160 6278960 413588 18931708 120dffc vmlinux.no_memzero So it is probably not worth keeping __memzero around given that the compiler can do a better job at inlining trivial memset(p,0,n) on its own. And the memset code already handles a zero length just fine. Suggested-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de> Signed-off-by: Nicolas Pitre <nico@linaro.org> Acked-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ard.biesheuvel@linaro.org> Acked-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de> Signed-off-by: Russell King <rmk+kernel@armlinux.org.uk>
Linux kernel ============ This file was moved to Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst Please notice that there are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or ``make pdfdocs``. There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory, several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation. See Documentation/00-INDEX for a list of what is contained in each file. Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.