n a 2GB Core2 system time cat /proc/net/tcp > /dev/null (with a mostly
empty hash table) goes from 0.046s to 0.005s.

On systems with slower atomics (like P4 or POWER4) or larger hash tables
(more RAM) the difference is much higher.

This can be noticeable because there are some daemons around who regularly
scan /proc/net/tcp.

Original idea for this patch from Marcus Meissner, but redone by me.

Signed-off-by: Andi Kleen <ak@suse.de>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
Z‹§Í™