Can a custom and native kernel compilation improve efficiency?

[Mayuresh <mayuresh%acm.org@localhost>]

Quoting from: http://www.netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-kernel.html

"by enabling optimisations more specific to your hardware, or tuning the
system to match your specific sizing and workload, you can improve
performance."

For an i686 desktop, are there specific things I can do to achieve above
benefits?

Specifically, how do I compile the kernel for i686 instead of i386 _and_
will doing so benefit in terms of efficiency? ( Will COPTS+=-mnative in
/etc/mk.conf do?)


I did notice the kernel size nearly halving after trying to set a minimal
configuration. But space or RAM the kernel will save this way did not
sound like a direct advantage for a desktop class machine.


uname -a
NetBSD laptop 6.0_RC1 NetBSD 6.0_RC1 (MYKERNEL) #2: Wed Sep 19 18:00:17
IST 2012  root@laptop:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/MYKERNEL i386


Mayuresh