gcc binaries are getting larger over time (gcc versions)

[Colin Ian King]

Binaries generated by gcc are getting larger over time. Here is a table of the size of vmlinux for 4.14-rc2 built with different versions of gcc. Data shows size of unstripped and stripped binaries.

Linux 4.14-rc2
make allmodconfig; make -j 48 vmlinux

gcc unstripped stripped
7.2.0 103205784 59230984
6.4.0 98984888 56486672
6.3.0 98494368 56331096
5.4.1 87902168 54242064
5.4.0 87901880 54274840
5.2.1 88183336 54115160
4.9.2 71751096 44948152
4.8.5 59163648 40438456
4.8.4 59369191 42580672
4.7.4 59029808 40389392
4.7.3 59308840 40389392
4.6.4 59514616 40389392
4.6.3 59512890 40391400

This is also related to binary bloat observable in user space binaries generated by gcc too. It would be useful to see why we're seeing such a large increase of nearly 1/3 from 4.6.3 to 7.2.0. We've seen issues where users/customers have been complaining about the increase of memory pressure over releases and I believe one of the core reasons is because of code bloat from gcc generated binaries.

[RussianNeuroMancer (russianneuromancer)]

https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.