[libc-alpha] Re: [open-source] Re: Wish for 2002

[Linus Torvalds]

On 9 Jan 2002, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
> >
> > I think glibc is a bloated piece of software already. The more arguments
> > people can come up with for not making it even bigger and slower, the
> > better.
>
> Adding functions to glibc does not make it *slower*.  Nor is "bloated"
> a substantive criterion.

But it _does_ make things slower. Unused functions tend to fragment the
page set for the functions that are used, and take up virtual address
space, causing loading to slow down, causing fragmented icaches, causing
more TLB misses etc.

>		  Libraries do not work like programs.  They
> do not require the careful integration and understanding of all their
> parts together.

Bzzt, no. glibc _is_ slower than other libraries, and the reason for that
is that people haven't cared. They've thought like you do, apparently.

Maybe you've not seen the people for whom glibc already is unusable
because they care about small devices, running at "just" a hundred MHz
etc.

And if glibc developers don't start caring, somebody smaller and faster
and more aggressive will come along. Because you ARE wrong.

		Linus