On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 04:50:14PM -0800, Chris Quenelle wrote:
> Bart Smaalders wrote:
> > Why is an install-time solution better?
> 
> It's better to pay a few milliseconds (or whatever) at
> install time than to pay a small runtime performance cost.
> 
> Debugging problems with the version selection is easier at install
> time than it is at runtime.
> 
> Runtime combinations or pfexec/verexec/isaexec are avoided
> by removing verexec from the equation.

pfexec is moving to the kernel soon enough.

> Obviously there is a complexity trade-off between complexifying
> the installer or comlpexifying the runtime.  I think it's
> generally better to make that tradeoff in favor of simpler runtime,
> if both solutions are reasonable (as they are in this case).

The biggest problem with what you propose is that we'd lose freedom at
run-time.  That freedom is important.  Also, ld.so.1 could become smart
enough to handle verexec/isaexec combinations if it mattered for
performance, and then we'd be down to microseconds of impact at worst.

> Because the install-time solution actuall provides less features,
> it's (by definition) a simpler solution.  The additional feature
> is the ability to tweak the version selection algorithm at runtime.

Simplicity is not the only criterion.  You want the simplest solution
that meets the requirements.  Is run-time version selection required?
If not, then I'd think it should be, though I'd also agree with you.

Nico
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