Re: Packages grow, no longer fit on a 💾

[Paul Jewell via "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." <guix-devel@gnu.org>]

Evening all,

On 14/01/2023 23:07, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> Over the course of a few years, the size of our packages has apparently
> kept growing.  Example:
> 
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> $ guix time-machine --commit=v1.2.0 -- size emacs
> store item                                                       total    self
> /gnu/store/118xpdazyylxa1rlc68h9lmh38vhxrb4-llvm-10.0.0            210.8   139.3  16.2%
> /gnu/store/1qmd9achfkm1njzxf8hi86q53pmy9sxk-mesa-20.0.7            369.2   131.3  15.3%
> /gnu/store/d83hc7cqgnhl1vlz1rv4ibkvaqaq2g35-emacs-27.1             859.7   106.2  12.4%
> /gnu/store/18hp7flyb3yid3yp49i6qcdq0sbi5l1n-guile-3.0.2            132.8    53.2   6.2%
> /gnu/store/9lckq1194qcy4a7kv8bihagd58shj7yr-gtk+-3.24.20           723.7    49.0   5.7%
> /gnu/store/qizplwwgqwyq6qmz1i6jlaib5kgzrgwq-icu4c-66.1             110.2    38.1   4.4%
> /gnu/store/fa6wj5bxkj5ll1d7292a70knmyl7a0cr-glibc-2.31              38.4    36.7   4.3%
> […]
> total: 859.7 MiB
> $ guix time-machine --commit=v1.3.0 -- size emacs
> store item                                                       total    self
> /gnu/store/g3idjpqsp2p2d163qfzskxj4k58nrx7f-llvm-11.0.0            220.0   148.6  16.9%
> /gnu/store/jf269s6clr6r57p8v5c3c1qkyra6apq2-mesa-20.2.4            389.1   141.6  16.1%
> /gnu/store/7nlq2v4000pw8vgj3m4vrwz072ib58xh-emacs-27.2             880.5   106.4  12.1%
> /gnu/store/18hp7flyb3yid3yp49i6qcdq0sbi5l1n-guile-3.0.2            132.8    53.2   6.0%
> /gnu/store/czf23hay13pp25yzrb4yq3n4gcri5r70-gtk+-3.24.24           744.3    49.1   5.6%
> /gnu/store/2wqjj3mkqdvsvksndr2hpjpi7qqwi7kr-icu4c-66.1             110.2    38.1   4.3%
> /gnu/store/fa6wj5bxkj5ll1d7292a70knmyl7a0cr-glibc-2.31              38.4    36.7   4.2%
> […]
> total: 880.5 MiB
> $ guix time-machine --commit=v1.4.0 -- size emacs
> store item                                                       total    self
> /gnu/store/i11jmrc90drpx9mc6cyb6s4pjny91qx6-emacs-28.2            1592.7   250.6  15.7%
> /gnu/store/sdzfljm6san79pqiy42yp0nzmkr2bafc-mesa-21.3.8            411.6   169.6  10.6%
> /gnu/store/6pdzpmxg5afzss6dlivq8z84sfa31x22-llvm-11.0.0            221.5   149.5   9.4%
> /gnu/store/lphzb1z0r4kbb453rsvnw7msrxxzp5r7-libgccjit-10.3.0       244.8   128.5   8.1%
> /gnu/store/pfas3c4lhr1jwkj2gl0yx8dg4xjjlp4r-mozjs-91.13.0          261.2    65.4   4.1%
> /gnu/store/hy6abswwv4d89zp464fw52z65fkzr7h5-perl-5.34.0            147.7    58.6   3.7%
> /gnu/store/zyqimpkmpffc24nwwqp46cicj8ss85y5-binutils-2.37          126.0    54.4   3.4%
> /gnu/store/cnfsv9ywaacyafkqdqsv2ry8f01yr7a9-guile-3.0.7            129.1    52.0   3.3%
> /gnu/store/4aq7hw017s9ihpm1rxpwfz28c80569z9-gtk+-3.24.30          1002.2    48.6   3.1%
> /gnu/store/vaxkf8cbc7slgc3ikm5qr3815wih93w8-ghostscript-with-cups-9.54.0   219.1    39.1   2.5%
> /gnu/store/bjycxjjkp1da53ijsa4hfdrz9mcgg55h-icu4c-69.1             110.7    38.0   2.4%
> /gnu/store/ayc9r7162rphy4zjw8ch01pmyh214h82-glibc-2.33              76.6    36.6   2.3%
> […]
> total: 1592.7 MiB
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
> 
> I think something went wrong here.  :-)
> 
> In particular with Emacs itself (due to JIT + dependency on libgccjit,
> Binutils, etc.?) and with GTK+ (due to mozjs in polkit?).
> 
> And then MESA and LLVM have always been problematically big.
> 
> We should do better.  I mean, it’s just a text editor, isn’t it?
> 
> Ludo’.
> 

Please forgive my ignorance if I have missed anything but:

- does anyone actually install from a CD these days?
- Can an ISO be bigger than a CD then be installed on a memory stick?

It strikes me that this is like King Canute holding back the tide. 
Package size growth is pretty inevitable, and even if work now can bring 
the size down to that of a CD, the same problem will occur in the not 
too distant future.

Is it really a problem? Please educate me! :)

--
Paul