Monday, June 6, 2011

gcc performance - getting better all of the time

There's quite a bit going on in the world of Linux on Power, where teams have been focused on improvements for gcc performance. Lately, a series of articles have been published on DeveloperWorks which nicely highlight the performance gains that gcc (packaged in the Advance Toolchain) provides over the gcc packaged with the Linux operating system.

Two articles are available which dive into performance gains across a number of workloads embedded in the SPECcpu2006 suite. The approach is simple. Use gcc as bundled with the version and release of the operating system, measure the performance. Then install the Advance Toolchain (a couple of rpms), change the path to gcc, re-build, re-run, and compare the performance.
Naturally, your mileage will vary.

(this is a re-post of an entry from a new "Think Power Linux" community being developed under IBM's DeveloperWorks realm)
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One of many bloggers.

Bill Buros

Bill leads an IBM Linux performance team in Austin Tx (the only place really to live in Texas). The team is focused on IBM's Power offerings (old, new, and future) working with IBM's Linux Technology Center (the LTC). While the focus is primarily on Power systems, the team also analyzes and improves overall Linux performance for IBM's xSeries products (both Intel and AMD) , driving performance improvements which are both common for Linux and occasionally unique to the hardware offerings.

Performance analysis techniques, tools, and approaches are nicely common across Linux. Having worked for years in performance, there are still daily reminders of how much there is to learn in this space, so in many ways this blog is simply another vehicle in the continuing journey to becoming a more experienced "performance professional". One of several journeys in life.

The Usual Notice

The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies, or opinions, try as I might to influence them.