Linux/Compiler Options

Compilers

Compiler + Options	Notes
gcc 4.1.2 (-Os -freorder-blocks -fno-reorder-functions)	Baseline for testing. Very similar to our reference platform, which uses gcc 4.1.1. Those options above are the default options that we use for compiling. This compiler version apparently does not inline even trivial functions.[1]
gcc 4.2.1 (-Os -freorder-blocks -fno-reorder-functions -finline-limit=50)	Note the use of -finline-limit=n. This will force many small functions and helpers to be inlined. (-O2 uses 600 as a value, for example.) On a 32-bit Linux build this results in: codesize saving of 225kb (2%) Ts win of 3% Txul win of 18% Tp2 win of about 25% (!)
gcc 4.2.1 (-O2 -freorder-blocks -fno-reorder-functions)	Comparing -O2 vs. -Os -finline-limit=50, not directly against baseline. [2] Txul is unchanged Ts improves 3% Tp2 improves about 4% however, codesize jumps 2,414kb (19%)

Distributions

Name	GCC Version	Last Build
Ubuntu 7.10	gcc version 4.1.3 20070929 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.2-16ubuntu2)	2.0.0.11+2nobinonly-0ubuntu0.7.10 (2008-01-07)
gcc flags -Wall -W -Wno-unused -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Wno-long-long -pedantic -g -Wall -O2 -pthread -pipe g++ flags -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -Wall -Wconversion -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Woverloaded-virtual -Wsynth -Wno-ctor-dtor-privacy -Wno-non-virtual-dtor -Wno-long-long -pedantic -g -Wall -O2 -fshort-wchar -pthread -pipe configure flags --build=i486-linux-gnu --prefix=/usr '--includedir=${prefix}/include' '--mandir=${prefix}/share/man' '--infodir=${prefix}/share/info' --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var '--libexecdir=${prefix}/lib/firefox' --disable-maintainer-mode --disable-dependency-tracking --srcdir=. --disable-debug --with-default-mozilla-five-home= --with-user-appdir=.mozilla --with-system-png=/usr --with-system-jpeg=/usr --with-system-zlib=/usr --with-system-nspr --with-system-nss --disable-composer --disable-debug --disable-elf-dynstr-gc --disable-gtktest --disable-installer --disable-ldap --disable-mailnews --disable-profilesharing --disable-strip --disable-strip-libs --disable-tests --disable-updater --disable-xprint --enable-application=browser --enable-canvas --enable-default-toolkit=gtk2 --enable-gnomevfs --enable-libthai '--enable-optimize=-pipe\ -w\ -O2\ -fno-strict-aliasing\ -g' --enable-pango --enable-postscript --enable-svg --enable-svg-renderer=cairo --enable-system-cairo --enable-mathml --enable-xft --enable-xinerama --enable-extensions=default --enable-single-profile --enable-system-myspell --with-distribution-id=com.ubuntu --enable-official-branding --enable-system-c
Fedora 8	gcc version 4.1.2 20070925 (Red Hat 4.1.2-33)	firefox-2.0.0.10-3.fc8 (2008-01-04)
gcc flags -Wall -W -Wno-unused -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Wno-long-long -pedantic -pthread -pipe g++ flags -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -Wall -Wconversion -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Woverloaded-virtual -Wsynth -Wno-ctor-dtor-privacy -Wno-non-virtual-dtor -Wno-long-long -pedantic -fshort-wchar -pthread -pipe configure flags --enable-application=browser --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib --with-system-nspr --with-system-nss --with-system-jpeg --with-system-zlib --with-system-png --with-pthreads --disable-tests --disable-debug --disable-installer '--enable-optimize=-Os -g -pipe -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -m32 -march=i386 -mtune=generic -fasynchronous-unwind-tables' --enable-xinerama --enable-default-toolkit=gtk2 --disable-xprint --disable-strip --enable-pango --enable-system-cairo --enable-svg --enable-canvas --enable-startup-notification --enable-official-branding
CentOS 5.1	gcc version 4.1.2 20070626 (Red Hat 4.1.2-14)	firefox-1.5.0.12-7.el5.centos (2008-01-07)
gcc flags -Wall -W -Wno-unused -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Wno-long-long -pedantic -pthread -pipe g++ flags -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -Wall -Wconversion -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-align -Woverloaded-virtual -Wsynth -Wno-ctor-dtor-privacy -Wno-non-virtual-dtor -Wno-long-long -pedantic -fshort-wchar -pthread -pipe configure flags --enable-application=browser --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib --with-system-nspr --with-system-nss --with-system-jpeg --with-system-zlib --with-system-png --with-pthreads --disable-tests --disable-debug --disable-installer '--enable-optimize=-Os -g -pipe -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -m32 -march=i386 -mtune=generic -fasynchronous-unwind-tables' --enable-xinerama --enable-default-toolkit=gtk2 --disable-xprint --disable-strip --enable-pango --enable-system-cairo --enable-svg --enable-canvas --enable-official-branding