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Date:      Sat, 13 May 2006 11:58:26 -0400
From:      Kris Kennaway <kris@obsecurity.org>
To:        "Matthew D. Fuller" <fullermd@over-yonder.net>
Cc:        freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.org, Kris Kennaway <kris@obsecurity.org>
Subject:   Re: INVARIANTS (was Re: RELENG_4 -> 5 -> 6: significant performance regression)
Message-ID:  <20060513155826.GA47324@xor.obsecurity.org>
In-Reply-To: <20060513155232.GF3874@over-yonder.net>
References:  <20060427160536.M96305@atlantis.atlantis.dp.ua> <20060427181226.GA66431@xor.obsecurity.org> <20060428122448.K57436@atlantis.atlantis.dp.ua> <20060428182818.GA10410@xor.obsecurity.org> <20060512161836.R75964@atlantis.atlantis.dp.ua> <20060513020051.GB18438@xor.obsecurity.org> <20060513084236.W74146@atlantis.atlantis.dp.ua> <20060513143740.GA46313@xor.obsecurity.org> <20060513155232.GF3874@over-yonder.net>

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On Sat, May 13, 2006 at 10:52:32AM -0500, Matthew D. Fuller wrote:
> On Sat, May 13, 2006 at 10:37:40AM -0400 I heard the voice of
> Kris Kennaway, and lo! it spake thus:
> >=20
> > With respect to INVARIANTS, you just need to get used to the fact
> > that running thousands of checks for bugs is incompatible with
> > running at optimal speed.
>=20
> (I'm not sure what the point of saying this is, really, but I'll say
> it anyway.)
>=20
> I've run all my systems with INVARIANTS for at least as long as I've
> known it was there.  While more performance is always good, hardly any
> of my systems are so constrained as to need every bit of suds all the
> time; trading off a bit of performance for a better chance of catching
> a problem before it really screws something up is just a no-brainer.
>=20
> Additionally (and especially on -CURRENT), I run it because I think
> more people run it than don't, and while theoretically it should just
> add checks, I know there are places where it changes code paths much
> more than that.  So, the !(INVARIANTS) code paths don't get exercised
> as much, and I worry about bugs hiding there that don't get found (I
> think I recall a case or three over the years of just that happening).
> Like everyone, I'm sure, I'm all for ferreting out bugs and getting
> them fixed, but I'd rather not have to bust my virtual face on the
> virtual concrete to do it    ;)

FYI, INVARIANTS adds checks but does not (is not supposed to) divert
code paths.

Kris

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