zlacker

>>paulca+(OP)
This is a fantastic example of how many resources we waste with modern software. Sure it's not packed full of the kind of eye-candy we're used to, but lots of the basics are there, and it's thousands of times smaller than even OSs used on smart phones.

iOS 8 for example takes up 5 Gigabytes, Windows 10 x64 is 11 Gigabytes.

>>bane+Xd
I had a friend named "tommy" that hated bloated software. He followed guides like this [1] to experimentally delete files off his box. Backup, delete stuff, see if everything works. If works, new incremental backup and repeat. If not, restore and make note to keep that. The result over a few years: a WinXP install with Firefox, AV, Office Suite, etc that backed up fully on a 650MB CD. Mindboggling.

Note: It was a blessing and a curse. He was a Windows XP holdover despite security issues and his preference for security. He wouldn't transition. The reason? He invested too much time into his XP box to give it up. Plus, looking at the Win7 default install, he figured it would be less fun next time.

>>nickps+Zj
I wonder if it would be possible to do this semi-automatically. Boot it in a VM, check what is actually accessed during boot / a couple programs starting up / running. ("Just" automate this.) Remove the files / parts of files, check that everything still works. If yes, repeat. If no, try binary searching until you get something that does work. Repeat.

>>TheLon+7k
Someone got a Linux image that could run `ls` down to 6.12MB by intercepting file accesses and deleting anything unused... See "How I shrunk a Docker image by 98.8%" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9438323)

>>iamdan+mk
It's an overly simple method but a good start. Will work if the dependencies are static and load at runtime. I don't know enough about the tool to say if it works for more dynamic applications.