Posted by
timothy
on from the count-to-ten-very-slowly dept.
An anonymous reader writes "TCCBOOT is the first boot loader able to compile and boot a Linux kernel directly from its source code. It can compile and start booting a typical Linux kernel in less than 15 seconds on a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4. TCCBOOT uses the latest version of the TinyCC C compiler."
Comparing it to Perl is a bit unfair considering we don't exactly have a full fledged Unix like kernel written in Perl to boot...
I prefer to see this as a great proof of concept that kernel compilation can be made fast enough to do "on the fly". Considering that driver installation for Linux still often requires a kernel recompile, if this system can be made solid enough it could make things like that a lot easier for end users, though I think I'd prefer to have it done at package installation time rather than boot time:-)
Main reason for this?
by
kbahey
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I think the main thing here is the TCC compiler, which is 100K or so, and very fast.
This TCCBOOT is something to showcase the speed of the TCC compiler.
No it wouldn't. You'd still have to reboot to see the change... at least if you compile -before- the reboot you know that the compile worked.
Plus using this mechanism as-is without alternative boots would mean compiling your kernel every time you boot. A waste of time and resources.
Note that it didn't say it booted in 15 seconds... only that it -started- to boot in 15 seconds. Even removing all modules I find it impossible to believe that a P4 could compile the entire kernel with -any- compiler faster than it takes to load a precompiled kernel. No matter what you still have a "+ compile time" situation even if it is much faster than the stock gcc.
This has some "because you can" value, but otherwise I just don't see it as being useful to the user, or even to the vast majority of kernel developers.
Making C feel like Perl is not a good thing for me:)
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I prefer to see this as a great proof of concept that kernel compilation can be made fast enough to do "on the fly". Considering that driver installation for Linux still often requires a kernel recompile, if this system can be made solid enough it could make things like that a lot easier for end users, though I think I'd prefer to have it done at package installation time rather than boot time :-)
I think the main thing here is the TCC compiler, which is 100K or so, and very fast.
This TCCBOOT is something to showcase the speed of the TCC compiler.
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No it wouldn't. You'd still have to reboot to see the change ... at least if you compile -before- the reboot you know that the compile worked.
... only that it -started- to boot in 15 seconds. Even removing all modules I find it impossible to believe that a P4 could compile the entire kernel with -any- compiler faster than it takes to load a precompiled kernel. No matter what you still have a "+ compile time" situation even if it is much faster than the stock gcc.
:)
Plus using this mechanism as-is without alternative boots would mean compiling your kernel every time you boot. A waste of time and resources.
Note that it didn't say it booted in 15 seconds
This has some "because you can" value, but otherwise I just don't see it as being useful to the user, or even to the vast majority of kernel developers.
Making C feel like Perl is not a good thing for me
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.