[debian-mysql] Bug#508406: Intend to create an -fPIC library package...

[Peter Samuelson]

[Wouter Verhelst]
> Whether we should recommend using static libraries is another matter
> entirely; indeed performance does go down a teeny weeny bit when using
> shared libraries, but the difference shouldn't be *that* large; if it
> is, that probably means they're using a twisty maze of function calls,
> all alike, that they probably shouldn't be doing.

As I understand it, the performance drawbacks of a shared library are:

1) The PIC code and its use of a GOT.  Given that we're talking about a
   PIC static library, this is not relevant.

2) Runtime linking.  This is overhead at application startup time.
   Something that embeds an SQL engine should not, I think, start up too
   frequently.  Am I wrong?

So what is the real performance advantage of this -fPIC static library?
To me it looks like a different, less desirable, way to implement the
'prelink' optimization.
-- 
Peter Samuelson | org-tld!p12n!peter | http://p12n.org/