Erlang native compilation, why not?

1. belucid: what are the downsides of compiling Erlang native? (HiPE) Any reason not to use it all the time?

2. MononcQc: the native modules aren't garbage collected when loading a new version

3. MononcQc: also they are not portable like .beam files

4. MononcQc: they're slower to compile and are not necessarily faster

5. MononcQc: but they are entirely worth it for numerical stuff

6. belucid: ok

7. belucid: so I should run some perf tests with both

8. belucid: and see if it makes a diff for my application

9. MononcQc: ideally, yeah

10. MononcQc: always measure

11. belucid: yep

12. belucid: and then... if they do make a meaningful diff, the impact is that I really shouldn't plan to load new versions

13. belucid: and of course, need to compile for the target machine

14. MononcQc: oh, load new versions all you like

15. MononcQc: it's not a big overhead

16. MononcQc: just something to consider

17. belucid: ok

18. belucid: just shouldn't plan on loading new versions forever and ever then

19. belucid: at some point it would add up

20. MononcQc: yeah, but then you'll need to tear the node down to upgrade the VM

21. MononcQc: so I'm not sure it's actually that problematic in practice

22. belucid: gotcha

23. belucid: on days like today, Erlang R14B release day

24. belucid: you'll bring the app down anyway

25. belucid: thanks as always MononcQc!

26. MononcQc: no problem

Erlang