In the gcc manual the -freorder-blocks-and-partition description includes the following: "... This optimization is automatically turned off in the presence of exception handling, for linkonce sections, for functions with a user-defined section attribute and on any architecture that does not support named sections." I also tried compiling my application (which uses exceptions) with this flag and I don't see any new sections in the generated code. On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 12:01 PM, Ian Lance Taylor <iant@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 7:15 AM, Saul Tamari <stamari@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >> I am trying to see if moving mostly unused code (e.g. conditional >> debug print statements) to a different section (and to different >> pages) would impact performance in a large application. > > So, you want -freorder-blocks-and-partition. > > You can't do it using asm statements that change the section in ways > that the compiler doesn't know about. > > Ian > > >> On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 9:11 AM, Ian Lance Taylor <iant@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>> On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 5:57 AM, Saul Tamari <stamari@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>>> >>>> I'm trying to move some C++ code to a different ELF section and am >>>> facing some errors which I don't understand. I'm using g++ v4.8.1 on >>>> x86. >>>> >>>> When compiling the following code I'm getting these errors: >>>> /tmp/ccpp2AkE.s: Assembler messages: >>>> /tmp/ccpp2AkE.s:63: Error: CFI instruction used without previous .cfi_startproc >>>> /tmp/ccpp2AkE.s:64: Error: CFI instruction used without previous .cfi_startproc >>>> /tmp/ccpp2AkE.s:66: Error: .cfi_endproc without corresponding .cfi_startproc >>>> /tmp/ccpp2AkE.s: Error: open CFI at the end of file; missing >>>> .cfi_endproc directive >>>> >>>> >>>> The source is: >>>> #include <iostream> >>>> #include <stdlib.h> >>>> >>>> int qqq; >>>> >>>> int main(int argc, char* argv[]) >>>> { >>>> std::cout << "hey " << std::endl; >>>> >>>> qqq = rand(); >>>> if (qqq > 0x1000000) { >>>> asm volatile ("jmp 1f \n\t .pushsection >>>> __kuku,\"ax\",@progbits \n\t 1:"); >>>> std::cout << "0x123456" << std::endl; >>>> throw 12345; >>>> asm volatile("jmp 3f \n\t .popsection \n\t 3:"); >>>> } >>>> >>>> return 0; >>>> } >>>> >>>> >>>> What do these errors mean? Is there a way to fix them? Is there an >>>> alternate method to move similar code to a different section? >>> >>> The assembler errors occur because GCC emits debug info in the >>> assembler stream using CFI pseudo-ops, and you are moving the >>> pseudo-ops to a different section in a way that GCC does not >>> understand. The assembler is seeing CFI pseudo-ops that make no >>> sense, so it is giving errors about them. >>> >>> The approach you are using can not work. The compiler is not an >>> assembler. It does not issue instructions in precise sequence. It >>> copies and duplicates and rearranges instructions as it sees fit. >>> This is so even though you are using asm volatile. All the asm >>> volatile promises is that the string will appear at the right point in >>> execution sequence. Your strings can only work if they appear at the >>> right point in the assembler output. That is a different matter that >>> the compiler does not guarantee. >>> >>> You didn't see what you are trying to do, but at a guess you should >>> look at the -freorder-blocks-and-partition option. >>> >>> Ian