GNU bug report logs - #6734
"inline" overused in .c files?

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Message #11 received at 6734 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> CS.UCLA.EDU>
Cc: Bug-gnulib <bug-gnulib <at> gnu.org>, Chen Guo <chenguo4 <at> yahoo.com>,
	6734 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: "inline" overused in .c files?
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:47:06 +0100

On 26/07/10 19:53, Paul Eggert wrote:
> I noticed thirteen "inline"s in coreutils/src/sort.c.  Just for fun, I
> removed them all.  In ten cases, removing "inline" made no difference to
> the generated machine code on my platform (RHEL 5, x86-64, GCC 4.1.2,
> compiled with the typical gcc -O2).  In the three sort.c functions
> that were exceptions (queue_insert, write_unique, check_insert),
> removing "inline" made the overall code a tad shorter with no
> measurable change to CPU performance.
> 
> Is there a reason those "inline"s are in there?  If not, I'm inclined
> to remove them.  I can see a use for "static inline" in .h files, as
> this asks the compiler not to warn about unused functions, but as far
> as I know, it's typically not necessary to use "inline" in .c files
> these days, as the compiler is typically smart enough.
> 
> I've checked this only for coreutils/src/sort.c but perhaps the same
> argument applies to other source files in coreutils or other GNU apps, so
> I'll CC: this to bug-gnulib for more-general comment.

I never use inline in my own user space apps.
I do sometimes in lower level code when I want detailed control of the stack.
So please remove them.

cheers,
Pádraig.

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