Re: Inlining doesn't happen on OS X: big performance problem

[Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>]

On 09/19/13 13:58, Daniel Colascione wrote:
> I don't see why we've been going through the tree and replacing
> instances of "static inline" with "static"

See bug#12541; removing the "inline" helped performance slightly there.

More generally, these days "inline" is mostly a noise word for static
functions, just as "register" is a noise word for locals.  Modern
compilers inline static functions pretty well without "inline", just
as they allocate registers pretty well without "register", and it
saves maintenance hassle if developers don't have to waste their
time reading the "inline" noise and worrying about whether the
"inline" should be there.

It may be for some cases on some platforms that it's still helpful to
use the "inline" keyword on a static function, i.e., the performance benefit
outweighs the maintenance hassle.  These can be handled on a case by
case basis.  Adding "inline" might hurt performance on one platform
even if it helps on another, so some care should be taken.