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Ask HN: High Performing Open Source Code Compilation

6 points by stackmover ↗ HN
Is there a need for better compiled open source code ? Developers typically pull binaries from repo's that are not necessarily compiled with best optimization flags. Assuming a better compiled version can boost performance, would there be users for such a repo ?

10 comments

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Someone
People who are really, really interested in performance will want code optimized for their CPU.

So, you would have to provide binaries for every CPU variant.

Worse, those users might also want to mix and match. For example, if they have a small SSD, they may want to optimize infrequently used tools for size, not speed, and they might want to optimize others for start up speed or security (you may want your web server to have all kinds of protections against attacks, even if that makes it slower)

=> in practice, it’s easier to let those few users who care about this build their own software.

stackmover
I was only considering CPU optimizations for common variants. Even more specifically, different builds for cloud - that way I won't end up with unsustainable SKUs.
ahazred8ta
Yes, if you improve performance on the major cloud instance types, you will get a lot of attention and be in a position to monetize.
stackmover
Thanks for the feedback. I will get back to this thread once I have something to show :)
mabynogy
Yes there is.

It's not about compilation but currently I try to use a http server written in assembly (https://2ton.com.au/rwasa/)

If you can show some improvements with compilation switches (for example: -lto=8 with static linking), you'll get the attention of those who try to reduce the costs and increase the performances.

stackmover
wow! Mad props for your code! How long did it take to write ? Hope to play with your code this weekend.
mabynogy
It's not mine but the project is astonishing ;)
PaulHoule
Isn't that what Anaconda is for Python?
stackmover
yeah, does look like it. I need to dig more. I was thinking about all the open source github projects too. Typically in languages such as C/C++ that need to be compiled