Average number of instructions per line of kernel code

[Gordan Bobic]

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007, Mohamed Bamakhrama wrote:

> I have a question regarding the average number of assembly
> instructions per line of kernel code. I know that this is a difficult
> question since it depends on many factors such as the instruction set
> architecture, compiler used, optimizations used, type of code, coding
> style, etc...
> I would like to know a rough estimate for such a quantity for the
> kernel 2.4/2.6 code running on MIPS32 architecture compiled using GCC.
> My estimate is between 5-10 instructions. I googled for such a thing
> but couldn't find any useful papers/resources.

Compile a full kernel with everything statically linked, then do objdump 
-D on it. wc it. Then wc the whole kernel tree.

That'll give you a pretty good ball park figure for what you're looking 
for.

Gordan