Speedups/Cleanups: End of GSOC patch collection

[Dimitrios Apostolou]

Hello list,

for the following couple of days I'll be posting under this thread my 
collection of patches.

Unless otherwise mentioned they've been bootstrapped and tested on x86, 
but with a three-weeks old snapshot, that is pre-C++ conversion. I plan to 
test again next week with a latest snapshot, so please wait for it before 
applying.

Most things are minor changes and tweaks, some are ported patches from 
last year, some are new. I also have some bigger patches that are flawed 
(some don't even compile) either because of difficulties I encountered or 
simply lack of time. I 'll try and post what is presentable from them, I'd 
appreciate discussion on whether/how to continue with those.


Thanks,
Dimitris