If you look at the actual change in FreeBSD (https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/commit/?id=9a7add6d01f3c5f7eba811e794cf860d2bce131d https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/commi

If you look at the actual change in FreeBSD (https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/commit/?id=9a7add6d01f3c5f7eba811e794cf860d2bce131d https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/commit/?id=9a7add6d01f3c5f7eba8... ) you'll see that the implementation of bubble sort used in the FreeBSD kernel was not doing early exits. /* * * Perform a bubble sort of the system initialization objects by * their subsystem (primary key) and order (secondary key). */ TSENTER2("bubblesort"); for (sipp = sysinit; sipp < sysinit_end; sipp++) { for (xipp = sipp + 1; xipp < sysinit_end; xipp++) { if ((*sipp)->subsystem < (*xipp)->subsystem || ((*sipp)->subsystem == (*xipp)->subsystem && (*sipp)->order <= (*xipp)->order)) continue; /* skip*/ save = *sipp; *sipp = *xipp; *xipp = save; } } TSEXIT2("bubblesort");