Re: [REPORT] [GSoC - TCG Continuous Benchmarking] [#6] Performance Comparison of Two QEMU Builds

[Aleksandar Markovic]

Hi, Ahmed.

The report, and the topic in general, look quite interesting. However, I would suggest two improvements:

- The title should reflect the content in a clearer way. Let's say, "Compilers and QEMU performance" would be IMHO better. The _expression_ "two builds" is just missing the central motivation of the report, which is comparing gcc-built QEMU and clang-built QEMU, performance-wise.

- At the end, a section "Useful links" would be handy, akin to the similar section in Report 1. There were many people that analysed (and posted their results on the internet) gcc vs clang in terms of performance of produced executables (in contexts other than QEMU). Having the most useful and informative ones (3-5 links with a short summary for each one would be more than sufficient) listed in this report would enhance it significantly.

Yours,

Aleksandar

On Monday, July 27, 2020, Ahmed Karaman <ahmedkhaledkaraman@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi everyone,

The sixth report of the TCG Continuous Benchmarking project presents a
performance comparison between two different QEMU builds, GCC and Clang.

The report also presents five new benchmarks to allow for a variety of
test workloads. Each of the five benchmarks is executed for seventeen
different QEMU targets on both the GCC and Clang builds.

The resulting ten tables are then summarized then analyzed using the
list_helpers.py and list_fn_callees.py scripts. The entire workflow is
automated using Python scripts that are posted in the report.

Report link:
https://ahmedkrmn.github.io/TCG-Continuous-Benchmarking/Performance-Comparison-of-Two-QEMU-Builds/

Previous reports:
Report 1 - Measuring Basic Performance Metrics of QEMU:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2020-06/msg06692.html
Report 2 - Dissecting QEMU Into Three Main Parts:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2020-06/msg09441.html
Report 3 - QEMU 5.0 and 5.1-pre-soft-freeze Dissect Comparison:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2020-07/msg01978.html
Report 4 - Listing QEMU Helpers and Function Callees:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2020-07/msg04227.html
Report 5 - Finding Commits Affecting QEMU Performance:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2020-07/msg05769.html

Best regards,
Ahmed Karaman