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5e9e95cc91
When CONFIG_TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS is enabled, Kbuild recursively traverses
the directory tree to determine which EXPORT_SYMBOL to trim. If an
EXPORT_SYMBOL turns out to be unused by anyone, Kbuild begins the
second traverse, where some source files are recompiled with their
EXPORT_SYMBOL() tuned into a no-op.
Linus stated negative opinions about this slowness in commits:
- 5cf0fd591f2e ("Kbuild: disable TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS option")
- a555bdd0c58c ("Kbuild: enable TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS again, with some guarding")
We can do this better now. The final data structures of EXPORT_SYMBOL
are generated by the modpost stage, so modpost can selectively emit
KSYMTAB entries that are really used by modules.
Commit f73edc8951b2 ("kbuild: unify two modpost invocations") is another
ground-work to do this in a one-pass algorithm. With the list of modules,
modpost sets sym->used if it is used by a module. modpost emits KSYMTAB
only for symbols with sym->used==true.
BTW, Nicolas explained why the trimming was implemented with recursion:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/2o2rpn97-79nq-p7s2-nq5-8p83391473r@syhkavp.arg/
Actually, we never achieved that level of optimization where the chain
reaction of trimming comes into play because:
- CONFIG_LTO_CLANG cannot remove any unused symbols
- CONFIG_LD_DEAD_CODE_DATA_ELIMINATION is enabled only for vmlinux,
but not modules
If deeper trimming is required, we need to revisit this, but I guess
that is unlikely to happen.
Signed-off-by: Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@kernel.org>
Linux kernel
============
There are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can
be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. Please read
Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst first.
In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or
``make pdfdocs``. The formatted documentation can also be read online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/
There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory,
several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation.
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.