+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+============
ORC unwinder
============
Overview
---------
+========
The kernel CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC option enables the ORC unwinder, which is
similar in concept to a DWARF unwinder. The difference is that the
ORC vs frame pointers
----------------------
+=====================
With frame pointers enabled, GCC adds instrumentation code to every
function in the kernel. The kernel's .text size increases by about
3.2%, resulting in a broad kernel-wide slowdown. Measurements by Mel
-Gorman [1] have shown a slowdown of 5-10% for some workloads.
+Gorman [1]_ have shown a slowdown of 5-10% for some workloads.
In contrast, the ORC unwinder has no effect on text size or runtime
performance, because the debuginfo is out of band. So if you disable
ORC vs DWARF
-------------
+============
ORC debuginfo's advantage over DWARF itself is that it's much simpler.
It gets rid of the complex DWARF CFI state machine and also gets rid of
The simpler debuginfo format also enables the unwinder to be much faster
than DWARF, which is important for perf and lockdep. In a basic
-performance test by Jiri Slaby [2], the ORC unwinder was about 20x
+performance test by Jiri Slaby [2]_, the ORC unwinder was about 20x
faster than an out-of-tree DWARF unwinder. (Note: That measurement was
taken before some performance tweaks were added, which doubled
performance, so the speedup over DWARF may be closer to 40x.)
ORC unwind table generation
----------------------------
+===========================
The ORC data is generated by objtool. With the existing compile-time
stack metadata validation feature, objtool already follows all code
Unwinder implementation details
--------------------------------
+===============================
Objtool generates the ORC data by integrating with the compile-time
stack metadata validation feature, which is described in detail in
Etymology
----------
+=========
Orcs, fearsome creatures of medieval folklore, are the Dwarves' natural
enemies. Similarly, the ORC unwinder was created in opposition to the
"Although Orcs rarely consider multiple solutions to a problem, they do
excel at getting things done because they are creatures of action, not
-thought." [3] Similarly, unlike the esoteric DWARF unwinder, the
+thought." [3]_ Similarly, unlike the esoteric DWARF unwinder, the
veracious ORC unwinder wastes no time or siloconic effort decoding
variable-length zero-extended unsigned-integer byte-coded
state-machine-based debug information entries.
ORC stands for Oops Rewind Capability.
-[1] https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20170602104048.jkkzssljsompjdwy@suse.de
-[2] https://lkml.kernel.org/r/d2ca5435-6386-29b8-db87-7f227c2b713a@suse.cz
-[3] http://dustin.wikidot.com/half-orcs-and-orcs
+.. [1] https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20170602104048.jkkzssljsompjdwy@suse.de
+.. [2] https://lkml.kernel.org/r/d2ca5435-6386-29b8-db87-7f227c2b713a@suse.cz
+.. [3] http://dustin.wikidot.com/half-orcs-and-orcs