GNU bug report logs - #73721
grep perf docs barely mention mem usage

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Package: grep;

Reported by: <mark.yagnatinsky <at> barclays.com>

Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2024 17:03:02 UTC

Severity: normal

Done: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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Message #16 received at 73721-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: mark.yagnatinsky <at> barclays.com
Cc: 73721-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#73721: grep perf docs barely mention mem usage
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2024 21:11:23 -0700
On 2024-10-09 14:12, mark.yagnatinsky <at> barclays.com wrote:
> With mmap(), the kernel just needs to set up a bit of book-keeping

Yes, I'm sure than in some cases mmap would be a win. However, all in 
all it was found not to be, and I expect that the hassle of maintaining 
the mmap variant wasn't worth whatever benefits it provided. As I recall 
'grep' wants to modify its input buffers for other efficiency reasons, 
and mmap CoW likely won't be a performance win over page-aligned read.

We could be proved wrong by someone taking the time to resurrect --mmap 
and doing performance measurements of realistic benchmarks. I don't have 
the time for that, myself.




This bug report was last modified 279 days ago.

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