Sysctl With Linux 6.7 Continues Work To Remove Kernel Bloat

Since Linux 6.6 we've been seeing work upstreamed for sysctl working to remove its sentinel, the final empty element on each sysctl array. This will cut-down on around 64 bytes of bloat per array, help with kernel build times, and an all-around improvement. With Linux 6.7 more of the sysctl changes are ready and hopefully for the v6.8 kernel cycle next year the effort will be completed.

Linux 6.6 brought infrastructure changes for the sysctl sentinel removal effort. Now for Linux 6.7 all of the arch/ and drivers/ code has been modified to remove the sentinel. Then for the v6.8 kernel cycle the hope is to remove the rest of the sentinels and removing of the last sentinel check in the code.

Once completed this should pay off with the build time of the kernel, dropping around ~64 bytes per array, and an overall improvement for the kernel sysctl code.

Today's pull request of these sysctl changes to remove the superfluous sentinels is just a few dozen lines of code removed and has been vetted already in linux-next for the past few weeks.