From 0ff0bdb4a71d8fd055272abfdadea2f23f99574a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: wooster0 Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2024 23:42:59 +0900 Subject: [PATCH] Module: keep frame pointer in ReleaseSmall on x86 On x86 and x86_64 keeping the frame pointer usually reduces binary size, even for simple programs: ``` ~$ cat x.zig pub fn main() void { @import("std").debug.print("hello", .{}); } ~$ zig build-exe x.zig -target x86_64-linux -OReleaseSmall -fno-omit-frame-pointer && wc -c x 5168 x ~$ zig build-exe x.zig -target x86_64-linux -OReleaseSmall -fomit-frame-pointer && wc -c x 5216 x ``` ``` ~$ cat x.zig pub fn main() void { @import("std").debug.print("hello", .{}); } ~$ zig build-exe x.zig -target x86-linux -OReleaseSmall -fno-omit-frame-pointer && wc -c x 3400 x ~$ zig build-exe x.zig -target x86-linux -OReleaseSmall -fomit-frame-pointer && wc -c x 3556 x ``` A bigger benchmark is the Zig compiler: With no changes to anything on master branch: ``` $ zig build -Dno-lib -Dno-langref --zig-lib-dir lib -Doptimize=ReleaseSmall $ wc -c zig-out/bin/zig 10698792 zig-out/bin/zig ``` Adding `.omit_frame_pointer = false` in `addCompilerStep` in `build.zig`: ``` $ zig build -Dno-lib -Dno-langref --zig-lib-dir lib -Doptimize=ReleaseSmall $ wc -c zig-out/bin/zig 10155744 zig-out/bin/zig ``` --- src/Package/Module.zig | 7 ++++++- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/src/Package/Module.zig b/src/Package/Module.zig index bfcef038edb7..af91b01c9a8e 100644 --- a/src/Package/Module.zig +++ b/src/Package/Module.zig @@ -205,7 +205,12 @@ pub fn create(arena: Allocator, options: CreateOptions) !*Package.Module { const omit_frame_pointer = b: { if (options.inherited.omit_frame_pointer) |x| break :b x; if (options.parent) |p| break :b p.omit_frame_pointer; - if (optimize_mode == .ReleaseSmall) break :b true; + if (optimize_mode == .ReleaseSmall) { + // On x86, in most cases, keeping the frame pointer usually results in smaller binary size. + // This has to do with how instructions for memory access via the stack base pointer register (when keeping the frame pointer) + // are smaller than instructions for memory access via the stack pointer register (when omitting the frame pointer). + break :b !target.cpu.arch.isX86(); + } break :b false; };