• Saving some space on installation images

    From Cyril Brulebois@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 15 05:10:01 2025
    XPost: linux.debian.maint.boot

    Hi,

    Having my eyes on *.list.gz (list of deb/udeb packages included into installation images) during successive builds made me realize we have
    a number of unused udeb packages getting included. In other words, we
    could save some space!

    I'm not trying to build a list right now (still lots to do before the
    release), but I like the idea of having some more wiggle room and/or
    smaller images in the future.

    Obvious candidates:
    - libgtk-3-0-udeb_3.24.49-3_amd64.udeb (2.5M)
    - libgtk-4-1-udeb_4.18.5+ds-1_amd64.udeb (2.7M)


    Cheers,
    --
    Cyril Brulebois (kibi@debian.org) <https://debamax.com/>
    D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

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  • From Steve McIntyre@21:1/5 to Cyril Brulebois on Thu May 15 16:30:01 2025
    XPost: linux.debian.maint.boot

    On Thu, May 15, 2025 at 05:08:23AM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
    Hi,

    Having my eyes on *.list.gz (list of deb/udeb packages included into >installation images) during successive builds made me realize we have
    a number of unused udeb packages getting included. In other words, we
    could save some space!

    I'm not trying to build a list right now (still lots to do before the >release), but I like the idea of having some more wiggle room and/or
    smaller images in the future.

    Obvious candidates:
    - libgtk-3-0-udeb_3.24.49-3_amd64.udeb (2.5M)
    - libgtk-4-1-udeb_4.18.5+ds-1_amd64.udeb (2.7M)

    ACK, we can drop those easily if you like.

    --
    Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK. steve@einval.com "... the premise [is] that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's not.
    Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining
    the human condition with dignity and respect."
    -- Bruce Schneier

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  • From Pascal Hambourg@21:1/5 to Cyril Brulebois on Fri May 16 18:00:01 2025
    XPost: linux.debian.maint.boot

    On 15/05/2025 at 05:08, Cyril Brulebois wrote:

    Having my eyes on *.list.gz (list of deb/udeb packages included into installation images) during successive builds made me realize we have
    a number of unused udeb packages getting included. In other words, we
    could save some space!

    I suspect that lvmcfg, mdcfg and partconf udebs are not needed any more
    (but do not take much space).

    Also, what is the point of including manpages debs (3.5MB) in netinst
    images without man-db ?

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  • From Cyril Brulebois@21:1/5 to All on Tue May 20 22:40:01 2025
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    Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> (2025-05-15):
    On Thu, May 15, 2025 at 05:08:23AM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
    Having my eyes on *.list.gz (list of deb/udeb packages included into >installation images) during successive builds made me realize we have
    a number of unused udeb packages getting included. In other words, we
    could save some space!

    I'm not trying to build a list right now (still lots to do before the >release), but I like the idea of having some more wiggle room and/or >smaller images in the future.

    Obvious candidates:
    - libgtk-3-0-udeb_3.24.49-3_amd64.udeb (2.5M)
    - libgtk-4-1-udeb_4.18.5+ds-1_amd64.udeb (2.7M)

    ACK, we can drop those easily if you like.

    Other candidates include:
    - libgtk2.0-0-udeb_2.24.33-7_amd64.udeb (1.7M) and other things
    needed to build the graphical installer: everything should be
    installed within the initrd.gz, so that X can start, along with the
    GTK+ debconf frontend.

    And also fonts, which I think are used at build-time, and not loaded
    at runtime. This is another reason I'm interested in making some room
    in the first place, having proper support for Japanese could mean
    using a different font, which would be quite heavier on everyone if it
    were included in the initrd.gz. Maybe we could have something like:
    - shipping it compressed in the initrd and uncompress it on the fly
    depending on the selected language;
    - loading it on the fly if it's not needed in the very few first
    screens.

    (This is partial braindump to give some context, not an actual
    concrete plan.)

    Regarding fonts udebs in the netinst list (assuming there's indeed not
    loading at runtime), not including them would save:

    1.3M fonts-android-udeb_1%3a8.1.0r7-1~1.gbp36536b_all.udeb
    68K fonts-dejavu-mono-udeb_2.37-8_all.udeb
    224K fonts-dejavu-udeb_2.37-8_all.udeb
    56K fonts-farsiweb-udeb_0.4.dfsg-13_all.udeb
    512K fonts-freefont-udeb_20211204+svn4273-2_all.udeb
    44K fonts-knda-udeb_1.3-7_all.udeb
    88K fonts-khmeros-udeb_5.0-9_all.udeb
    48K fonts-lao-udeb_0.0.20060226-10_all.udeb
    16K fonts-lohit-guru-udeb_2.91.2-3_all.udeb
    104K fonts-telu-udeb_2.5.5-2_all.udeb
    144K fonts-noto-hinted-udeb_20201225-2_all.udeb
    10M fonts-noto-unhinted-udeb_20201225-2_all.udeb
    24K fonts-taml-udeb_1.2.2-6_all.udeb
    128K fonts-sil-abyssinica-udeb_2.201-1_all.udeb
    100K fonts-sil-padauk-udeb_5.001-1_all.udeb
    128K fonts-sil-scheherazade-udeb_2.100-2.1_all.udeb
    132K fonts-mlym-udeb_7.0.2-1_all.udeb
    320K fonts-tibetan-machine-udeb_1.901b-6_all.udeb
    72K fonts-thai-tlwg-udeb_1%3a0.7.3-1_all.udeb
    168K fonts-ukij-uyghur-udeb_20110217-4_all.udeb
    14M total

    so we would still have a net win on the size front if we would clean
    those up and add the big font file (instead), assuming we can perform
    runtime loading/switching (second option in the non-plan above).


    I'm attaching a list of udebs to give some idea what that looks like,
    sorting them by size (amd64). And I'm listing below everything above
    1 MB (you'll recognize a number of them):

    972K espeak-data-udeb_1.48.15+dfsg-3+b2_amd64.udeb
    1012K isc-dhcp-client-udeb_4.4.3-P1-7_amd64.udeb
    1.3M fonts-android-udeb_1%3a8.1.0r7-1~1.gbp36536b_all.udeb
    1.4M libc6-udeb_2.41-7_amd64.udeb
    1.7M libgtk2.0-0-udeb_2.24.33-7_amd64.udeb
    2.0M libcrypto3-udeb_3.5.0-1_amd64.udeb
    2.5M libgtk-3-0-udeb_3.24.49-3_amd64.udeb
    2.7M libgtk-4-1-udeb_4.18.5+ds-1_amd64.udeb
    8.3M espeak-ng-data-udeb_1.52.0+dfsg-5_amd64.udeb
    10M fonts-noto-unhinted-udeb_20201225-2_all.udeb


    I'm not asking for any immediate action, this is more to log what's on
    my mind. Of course I should run some tests, and see what happens. It's
    likely going to be done when I look into the Japanese support thing…


    Cheers,
    --
    Cyril Brulebois (kibi@debian.org) <https://debamax.com/>
    D-I release manager -- Release team member -- Freelance Consultant

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    4.0K eatmydata-udeb_131-2_all.udeb
    4.0K libaio1-udeb_0.3.113-8+b1_amd64.udeb
    4.0K libatk-adaptor-udeb_2.56.2-1_amd64.udeb
    4.0K libfakekey0-udeb_0.3+git20170516-3_amd64.udeb
    4.0K libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0-udeb_2.42.12+dfsg-2_amd64.udeb
    4.0K libxcvt0-udeb_0.1.3-1_amd64.udeb
    4.0K libxshmfence1-udeb_1.3.3-1_amd64.udeb
    4.0K readline-common-udeb_8.2-6_all.udeb
    4.0K wireless-regdb-udeb_2025.02.20-1_all.udeb
    8.0K libattr1-udeb_1%3a2.5.2-3_amd64.udeb
    8.0K libinih1-udeb_59-1_amd64.udeb
    8.0K libqrtr1-udeb_1.1-2+b1_amd64.udeb
    8.0K libtextwrap1-udeb_0.1-17+b1_amd64.udeb
    8.0K ndisc6-udeb_1.0.7-1_amd64.udeb
    8.0K rdate-udeb_1%3a1.11-3_amd64.udeb
    12K beep-udeb_1.4.9-1.1_amd64.udeb
    12K libm