1
0
mirror of https://github.com/rkd77/elinks.git synced 2024-11-04 08:17:17 -05:00
elinks/doc/small.txt
2006-12-27 19:14:57 +02:00

93 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext

Tips to obtain a very small static elinks binary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tips to obtain a very small static elinks binary suitable for mini
distributions
Remove config.cache (previous CC may be cached):
$ rm config.cache
Use dietlibc (http://www.fefe.de/dietlibc/) or similar stuff (uClibc, ...):
$ export CC='diet -Os gcc'
Use compilers flags to optimize for size:
$ export CFLAGS='-s -fno-inline -nostdinc -fomit-frame-pointer'
Note that if you don't use dietlibc, you definitively want to add `-Os` or
`-O2` to `CFLAGS`; GCC 2.95 does not know `-Os`, and some say `-O2` gives
smaller executables even for GCC 3.x.
[NOTE]
.Warning
===============================================================================
If you use these `CFLAGS` on Cygwin and you get unresolved symbols (`htons` and
suite in particular), try removing `-fno-inline` parameter.
===============================================================================
Disable some compile-time options:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ ./configure --disable-ipv6 --disable-backtrace --disable-nls \
--enable-fastmem --without-zlib --without-bzlib --disable-xbel \
--without-lua --without-gnutls --without-openssl --without-x \
--enable-small --without-spidermonkey --without-gpm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can disable bookmarks, globhist and more, too, if you want to.
[NOTE]
.Notes
===============================================================================
- \--disable-backtrace disables internal backtrace code.
- \--disable-nls disables i18n support.
- \--enable-fastmem disables internal `malloc()` debugging and use `alloca()`
wherever possible.
- \--enable-small forces to remove some text descriptions in options and
keybind stuff (regain 30Kb).
===============================================================================
Dependencies over external libs must be removed using the related configure
options:
`-----------------------`------------------------------------------------------
Option Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\--without-zlib removes libz dependency (compression)
\--without-bzlib removes libbz2 dependency (compression)
\--disable-xbel removes expat dependency (XBEL bookmarks support)
\--without-lua removes liblua dependency (Lua scripting)
\--without-gnutls removes libtls dependency (SSL support)
\--without-openssl removes libssl dependency (SSL support)
\--without-x removes libx11 dependency (restoring terminal title)
\--without-spidermonkey removes libjs dependency (JavaScript)
\--without-gpm removes libgpm dependency (mouse/console)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems GCC 2.95.x do not generate as small binaries as GCC 3.2.x with same
flags.
You can use an executable compressor like UPX
link:http://upx.sourceforge.net/[].
Here are some results using gcc 2.95.3, dietlibc-0.23, and previous flags:
me$ ls -l src/elinks
-rwxr-xr-x 1 zas users 495100 Oct 20 15:53 src/elinks
me$ upx --best src/elinks
me$ ls -l src/elinks
-rwxr-xr-x 1 zas users 217946 Oct 20 15:53 src/elinks
Whow ! Around 200kb :)
[NOTE]
.Details about the `\--enable-small` configure option effects:
==============================================================================
- it disables long descriptions of options;
- it disables textual descriptions of keybinding options;
- it reduces size of some HTTP errors messages;
- it disables fastfind feature, reducing performance, but also reducing a lot
memory usage, and a bit the executable size.
==============================================================================