Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!+ From: Rick.Rashid@CS.CMU.EDU Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Large executables: Where's the space going? Message-ID: Date: 7 Jun 90 12:36:35 GMT Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 11 The runtime size of a lot of X programs (e.g. xterm, xclock, X, etc.) varies strongly with the page size of the machine being used. In particular, the size of the same programs run on my Sun 3/60 (8K page) and my Toshiba 5200 laptop (4K page) varies by about a factor of two. Code densities for the 68000 and i386 are not identical but vary by o(10%) so that cannot be the explanation. The easiest guess is that what you are looking at is heavy internal fragmentation due to the modularity of the code (most subroutines don't call other routines in the same module but rather those in other modules), the lack of an intelligent linker (which would figure that out and relocate routines) and memory allocation routines which are not working set sensitive.