This reverts commits fc6c7274, 109de05c, d0b4663c and
711bab1e.

Somebody will have to try harder before submitting this patch again.
I've spent entirely too much time on it already, and the #ifdef maze yet
to be written in order for it to build at all got on my nerves.  The
amount of work needed to get a platform-specific performance improvement
that's barely above the noise level is not worth it.