From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Aug 5 09:54:09 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E50B1106564A for ; Wed, 5 Aug 2009 09:54:09 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from david@vizion2000.net) Received: from dns1.vizion2000.net (77-99-36-42.cable.ubr04.chap.blueyonder.co.uk [77.99.36.42]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AAAC78FC18 for ; Wed, 5 Aug 2009 09:54:09 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from david@vizion2000.net) Received: by dns1.vizion2000.net (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 7B67734D420; Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:54:07 +0100 (BST) From: David Southwell Organization: Voice & Vision To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:54:07 +0100 User-Agent: KMail/1.11.4 (FreeBSD/7.2-RELEASE-p2; KDE/4.2.4; amd64; ; ) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200908051054.07456.david@vizion2000.net> Subject: Learning about Control of Optimization -- for dummies please X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:54:10 -0000 I have found http://docs.freebsd.org/info/gcc/gcc.ifo.Optimize_Options.html. I am about to build a new kernel am starting to dig a bit deeper into things I have, until now, taken for granted. The above link is very informative in technical terms about how to control optimization but I find it difficult to interpret the info in a way that tells me what might work best on my own system (Intel quad Core) with 8G of ram. Current kernel is GENERIC but as I said I am going to build a new one. # uname-a FreeBSD dns1.vizion2000.net 7.2-RELEASE-p2 FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE-p2 #0: Wed Jun 24 00:14:35 UTC 2009 root@amd64- builder.daemonology.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC amd64 Could anyone please point me in the right direction to achieve greater understanding of what optimizations may be most appropriate for compiling a kernel for my system. The docs are very good on the "how" but are not very helpful when it comes to solving the "what" "why" and "when" questions when the "who" is a dummy . Thanks in advance David