Re: [PATCH 0/24] make atomic_read() behave consistently across all architectures

On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 08:50:30PM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote:

Just try it yourself:

	volatile int i;
	int j;

	int testme(void)
	{
	        return i <= 1;
	}

	int testme2(void)
	{
	        return j <= 1;
	}

and compile with all the optimizations you can.

I get:

	testme:
	        movl    i(%rip), %eax
	        subl    $1, %eax
	        setle   %al
	        movzbl  %al, %eax
	        ret

vs

	testme2:
	        xorl    %eax, %eax
	        cmpl    $1, j(%rip)
	        setle   %al
	        ret

(now, whether that "xorl + setle" is better than "setle + movzbl", I don't 
really know - maybe it is. But that's not thepoint. The point is the 
difference between

                movl    i(%rip), %eax
                subl    $1, %eax

and

                cmpl    $1, j(%rip)

gcc bugzilla bug #33102, for whatever that ends up being worth.  ;-)

							Thanx, Paul