Why are Linux programs so light?

[Dan Duane]

ICQ2000 is about 8.0 MB (i'm not sure of the right number) ICQ 98a was about 2.0 MB. Licq 1.0-1 is about 1 MB, which is fairly big for a Linux program. Why & how does it seem that the Linux programs are smaller?

[Harvey]

when you download them you are usuall just downloading the code, they're not in binary form yet, so smaller (i think) they'll are all happy compressed too.
Also, lots of linux programs depend on other libraries that are basic to linux anyway, so lots of code gets reused.

and linux is kewl. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif
Someone will give you a better answer I'm sure http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[A_Lawn_GNOME]

There is no direct ratio for code to binary sizes.

The size comes from the nature of UNIX programs. They are meant to be tied together to create larger apps and so they are small and perform only a few simple functions.

In LICQ's case, it lacks a lot of the bloat AOL poisoned ICQ2000 with. No more todo lists, calendars, or other useless crap. As for being smaller than ICQ98, that prolly comes from the dynamic libraries it uses. ICQ98 probably included it's own dll's while you got them separately for LICQ.

[Fireman-x]

Plus you don't have to deal with all that proprietary API bull**** that Windows has...

[Strike]

Actually, source is typically much larger than compiled binaries. Compare source RPMs of a program to the RPM of a program and you'll see.

[A_Lawn_GNOME]

I was wondering if I should start a poll: would you rather code in Windows MFC or straight X stuff, no GTK or Qt.

I tried to learn MFC... What an ugly POS.

[Strike]

Xlib ain't too easy either. But I've never done much of either, so I'm not one to say. It's hard to find a good Xlib tutorial that is up-to-date out there.

[pipe]

If you wanted to install licq and didn't have QT or even the correct version of QT installed then the Linux installation would be larger than the Windows app.

So, if all dependencies are met, then a Linux app is small, if not it can be quite large.

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"I have five dollars for each of you."
--Bernhard Goetz

[kmj]

programming w/ Xlib would be more akin to just using #include <windows.h>; MFC has much more than that. Xlib has no widgets, so you have to draw everything yourself.