> So ... I assume you tried
> 
> $ export CFLAGS='march=ppc -O3' # march actually doesn't work on mac's
> $ ./configure
> $ make

Wow that does indeed help (once figured out).  for me on my G4 it was 
(after I figured out I had a 7450  processor)
export CFLAGS='-mtune=7450 -mcpu=7450 -fast -fPIC'

and compile with --disable-pthread

and voila, a faster Ruby (not sure if the real reason was the compiler 
flags, the pthread, or the updated version from p110 to p114, but 
something helped it--I'm guessing it was the compiler options).

new ruby with compiler options:
time ./ruby -e "10000000.times {}"
real  0m4.049s


old ruby (the mac osx port one):
time ruby -e "10000000.times {}"
real  0m5.400s

Wow it's a wonder they don't automatically set these up at compile time 
to be optimized since they're so helpful.
Unfortunately gcc on mac's doesn't seem to have the -fwhole_program (at 
least mine doesn't), so will have to wait to try that one till I'm back 
in x86 land.  Thanks for your help!
-R
-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.