Strip locales from apps?

aquila_deus · 2007-02-04 05:12:15

I just did that on some of my packages (trimmed more than 50% of size!). I'm wondering if anyone here use non-english locale? (and why??) If not, stripping all locales could save a lot of spaces since they're the main non-program files after docs.

sokuban · 2007-02-04 07:31:42

Hmm how did you strip locales off your apps? Sounds interesting. I do use non english versions of apps but I'll just take away the languages I don't know.

iphitus · 2007-02-04 09:08:23

Won't ever see it happen in the repo, as it's just blantant discrimination for a negligable gain. A lot of people use those other locales, but you dont realise, as many of them browse their respective language forums rather than here.

"There's not many of you, so you don't matter."

File size with packages isnt an issue. bandwidth is not hard to come by for most, and the savings made by stripping locales, would be too insignificant to help those on very low bandwidth connections.

James

Last edited by iphitus (2007-02-04 09:10:27)

Stalwart · 2007-02-04 09:55:12

Pointless

noriko · 2007-02-04 10:41:59

#iphitus +1

xabbott · 2007-02-04 14:32:06

You guys get way too defensive. You don't have to strip them in the repos. In Debian there is a tool to do this on the user's machine after the package is installed. You shouldn't assume hard drive space is not an issue for everyone just as you tried to tell the OP not to assume people don't use other locales.

test1000 · 2007-02-04 14:38:00

How do you strip away the locales? I suppose it would increase the speed of an executable aswell as stripping it's size? Couldn't a stripping operation be performed by a hook in the new pacman3? (user-configurable of course)

Or pacman could ask "Do you want to strip this package? estimated time: 5 seconds Y/n" The implementation details are up there.

If that wouldn't work since the stripping would be too timeconsuming then it would be cool to have a mirror (unofficial or official ) that would also run a stripping script on the packages before inserting them. Atleast one for english should be started

good idea aquila_deus!

test1000 · 2007-02-04 14:39:35

+1 xabbot

deficite · 2007-02-04 16:24:59

test1000 wrote:

How do you strip away the locales? I suppose it would increase the speed of an executable aswell as stripping it's size? Couldn't a stripping operation be performed by a hook in the new pacman3? (user-configurable of course)
Or pacman could ask "Do you want to strip this package? estimated time: 5 seconds Y/n" The implementation details are up there.
If that wouldn't work since the stripping would be too timeconsuming then it would be cool to have a mirror (unofficial or official ) that would also run a stripping script on the packages before inserting them. Atleast one for english should be started
good idea aquila_deus!

I think a better way of doing that would be by having a flag in pacman.conf that sets whether you want to strip unused locales from your packages when you install them.

I agree that we shouldn't discriminate, but if this could be done during the install process and if the benefits outweigh the cons (such as the time to code this and such) I'm all for it.

edit: Also, with the libification of pacman3, this feature could easily be added to a pacman frontend without having to touch pacman's code at all.

Last edited by deficite (2007-02-04 18:49:30)

sokuban · 2007-02-07 08:49:03

xabbot +1

Yea, we ought to have a tool like this. I mean if Arch strips documentation, we ought to at least let us strip locales too. (Doing it in the repos *would* be stupid though.)

iphitus · 2007-02-07 09:42:31

Could we stop this +1 spam? Post only if you have something worthwhile to add guys.

Locales are in $PREFIX/share/locale
on my system with 900 packages, including XFCE, Gnome and KDE:

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb1             9.2G  4.6G  4.2G  53% /

/usr/share/locale 131M
/opt/kde/share/locale 15M
/opt/gnome/share/locale 99M
/opt/xfce4/share/locale 12M
/share/locale 112K 
=~ 250M, or 5% of my / partition.

I don't think there's enough size there to be worth culling unless you're in a space stricken system. I've got a pretty abnormal and obtuse system with so many packages, so most of you will have far less.

But, if you still think it's worthwhile to strip locales.... the information and locations of the locales are right there. English locales are hardcoded into applications, so it should be safe to remove those, but don't quote me - i could be wrong.

James

rabid_dog · 2007-02-07 14:17:40

aquila_deus wrote:

I just did that on some of my packages (trimmed more than 50% of size!). I'm wondering if anyone here use non-english locale? (and why??) If not, stripping all locales could save a lot of spaces since they're the main non-program files after docs.

Yes, I use russian locales, ru_RU.KOI8R and ru_RU.UTF8 at least.
Stripping locales is absolutely unneeded, disk space costs cents, and those who have bad or expensive inernet connection just not use Arch.
If you have tiny HDD you can install minimalistic distro, I recommend Zenwalk.
If you cannot do pacman -Su regularry - install some distro with hard releases, on dvd, and regularily buy dvds.

simple, isn' it?

rabid_dog · 2007-02-07 14:27:46

Again, i found Arch's devs idea to not sypply docs with programs quite weird.
Now, I must download docs separately.
Howewer, once you have learned, you rarely need docs.

GogglesGuy · 2007-02-22 22:44:31

Since I'm not using 99% of all locales (except the one I'm using) I think it would make sense to have a utility that strips the unused ones. 250 mb is a lot if you're running out of space

byte · 2007-02-23 11:54:31

I usually don't have more than 80 MB free on my Arch partition so I'm always deleting locales after larger updates, but I don't see any need to strip the repo packages or even for a pacman function. A dedicated tool would be something like a 10-lines bash script, so feel free to write one ("User Contributions").

gunnix · 2007-03-04 23:52:03

localepurge in debian does this during install of new packages.

Also removing unneeded files from /usr/man would give quite much extra free hd space.

nolochemical · 2009-06-19 02:30:54

Hey,

Hate to whip to dead horse, but is it okay to rip out unused locales from '/usr/share/locale'.. its reached nearly 350mb approx 8.9mb each .. please advise.

~nolo

Maki · 2009-06-19 03:37:11

A tool that will remove all the unneeded locale's = Good. Removing locale's from package's is to much of a hassle = Bad.

dolby · 2009-06-19 03:52:40

You can probably use http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=11975
although i havent tested so i cant vouch for the results.

tomk · 2009-06-19 05:59:14

Do not reanimate zombie threads. This one died peacefully in its sleep over two years ago, in case you hadn't noticed.

If you want to continue the discussion, start a new thread and link to this one.

Closed.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-02-04 05:12:15

Strip locales from apps?

#2 2007-02-04 07:31:42

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#3 2007-02-04 09:08:23

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#4 2007-02-04 09:55:12

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#5 2007-02-04 10:41:59

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#6 2007-02-04 14:32:06

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#7 2007-02-04 14:38:00

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#8 2007-02-04 14:39:35

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#9 2007-02-04 16:24:59

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#10 2007-02-07 08:49:03

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#11 2007-02-07 09:42:31

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#12 2007-02-07 14:17:40

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#13 2007-02-07 14:27:46

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#14 2007-02-22 22:44:31

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#15 2007-02-23 11:54:31

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#16 2007-03-04 23:52:03

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#17 2009-06-19 02:30:54

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#18 2009-06-19 03:37:11

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#19 2009-06-19 03:52:40

Re: Strip locales from apps?

#20 2009-06-19 05:59:14

Re: Strip locales from apps?

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