TL;DR- I propose we move some packages around, so some package groups are *only* on the LiveCD and other package groups are *only* on the BonusCD. This can save a *lot* of space because we won't be putting the same package on two CD images.
-- It sometimes comes up that the FreeDOS distribution is getting quite big. I don't think it needs to be that way, and I don't think we need to delete any packages to improve things. I think we can "rebalance" what's on each CD image to save some space. The latest Sep 2024 "Test" CD images are: (in kB) 658264 T2409BNS.iso 285456 T2409LGCY.iso 458936 T2409LIVE.iso Or, if you prefer MB: 643M T2409BNS.iso 279M T2409LGCY.iso 449M T2409LIVE.iso I didn't do a deep dive, but I know LiveCD also includes a bootable "live" version of FreeDOS, and LegacyCD does not. I'd guess the size difference between LiveCD (449 MB) and LegacyCD (279 MB) can be mostly attributed to that. If you look at the package report, you'll see there's a lot of overlap in packages: many of the same packages are provided on the LiveCD and BonusCD. (I'll ignore LegacyCD for a moment, since LegacyCD should be the same as the LiveCD, with a different boot method.) https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/test/report.html My goal: I'd like to "simplify" how we arrange the packages. I think it would be great to have the LiveCD contain the Base packages plus the packages that most "general users" would want to run, such as applications and games. I think it will be easier for new users to understand if "install everything" meant that *everything* on the LiveCD got installed by default. We can leave more technical stuff like developer tools and utilities for the BonusCD. If you want to install the extra stuff, download the BonusCD and use FDIMPLES to install them. So I looked at the contents of the CD images. My method: I run Linux at home, so I ran 'ls -sk */*.zip' from the 'packages' directory on each CD image, and combined the output into a single list of all packages on all CD images, with the size in kB. I loaded that into a spreadsheet and did an exercise where I "kept" the important DOS stuff in a spreadsheet column for "LiveCD" and "moved" all of the extra packages to a column for "BonusCD." Results: I decided to "keep" these groups in the LiveCD column in my spreadsheet: (I assume LegacyCD would have the same packages as LiveCD, with a different boot method.) 1. Base 2. Apps 3. Zip and Unzip [1] 4. Drivers 5. Games 6. Net [1] Since the FreeDOS package format is a structured zip file, and because zip files are basically the standard in DOS, I recommend putting Zip and Unzip on the LiveCD so people can work with zip files, including "manually installing" (unzipping) packages if they need/want to do that. I don't know the best logistical way to do that, but I think it's a good idea. I "moved" these other groups to the BonusCD column: 7. Archiver (*except Zip and Unzip) 8. Devel 9. Edit 10. GUI (which is just OpenGEM these days) 11. Sound 12. Unix 13. Util Final sizes: LiveCD: 240748 kB (235.1 MB) BonusCD: 425100 kB (415.1 MB) That doesn't remove any packages, but the CD images are each a lot smaller. Even if I missed some "overhead," I think the space savings are significant just by keeping certain packages *only* on LiveCD and other packages *only* on BonusCD. And at the same time, it will be much easier to understand what CD image you need to install something. Not installed when you "installed everything"? It's on the BonusCD. And if we assume the "live" version of FreeDOS that's included on the LiveCD adds another 400 MB, that still fits on a single CD image. [2] The monthly Test releases are for testing. I'd love to see this in a future Test release so we can try it out and comment on it. I don't know if we can do this in time for T2410, but I'd love to see it in T2411. -- [2] Also: I think it should be possible to download the LiveCD and never actually install it. Boot a virtual machine with the LiveCD, and use a separate disk image to store data. I think that "live" image would include everything from Base, Apps, Zip & Unzip, Drivers, Games, and Net [with an FDAUTO that doesn't load the extra drivers or networking by default .. let the user do that if they need it] but installed into the "live" part without source code. The source code is included in the packages on the LiveCD, anyway. I didn't dig into how big that would need to be, but 400 MB seems more than required for that -- I intentionally overestimated when I said "400 MB" above. _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
