Linux fat/bloated

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

This is a topic near and dear to my heart.  We who are old timers
remember when UNIX ran very well on a machine with 256K -- as a
timesharing system.  The stuff that has been added since is very
valuable, but the cost has not seemed in any way proportional.

Cost is: computer resources (memory, disk space, CPU), human resources
(API size, tool complement size, documentation size), and probably others
that are not at the top of my mind.  It basically boils down to
complexity.

It is very hard to simplify anything.  The only generally successful
technique is to start over.

(Decremental Improvement(TM) is possible but hard work for usually
meagre results.  Best such results are achieved when attacking
low-hanging fruit that is not visible to an interface.)

It is very hard to get buy-in for starting over.

The best way to start over is to start from a different space and
converge (collide) with the old space.  Think of Christensen's
disruptive technology
	http://www.businessweek.com/chapter/christensen.htm
Examples from within the Linux world: Knoppix, Tom's Root Boot,
hand-held distros, LTSP.

================

Good design is slow and careful.  The growth of software is often pell
mell.

================

Complexity is very cheap in computer software.  Much cheaper than any
other medium that I can think of (other than the written word).  We
therefore get way too much.

================

Modularity is the main tool to fight complexity.  Complaints about
dependencies may relate to bad modularity.

================

A random collection of things that currently annoy me:

- XML config files.

- packaging that isn't portable

- enormous libraries (glibc, gtk, qt, ...)

- overgrown scripting languages (bash, for example)

- boot time

- unfathomable interconnections (e.g. whatever it is that mounts USB
  devices when I plug them into my Fedora Core 5 system)
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