There are fairly significant regressions in PIC compilation and linking in the current v3.8 of dev-embedded/sdcc, even after the bugs that keep v3.8 from compiling properly with USE="pic non-free" are addressed. For instance, code that compiled to fit small-memory PIC chips just fine with v3.5 is now more than double the size and no longer fits in addressable memory. I do realize v3.8 is what upstream currently "supports", and should definitely be used instead for some of the other chipsets, but having 3.5 back in the tree would go far for anyone that actually wants to use it.
Can you provide an example?