Why I've switched to Opera

[Walter Dnes]

On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 02:19:42PM -0500, Renata Rocha wrote

> AFAIK Opera is NOT open source software - but rather "freeware" - , so
> you're comparing a pre-compiled binary with packages you will download
> the source and compile. If your point is to download the smallest
> amount of data, I see no point in using Gentoo, which targets in
> downloading full sources and optimizing them for better performance.

  OK, let's do an apples-to-apples comparison... Opera versus Firefox-bin.
I had to do this in a 32-bit Gentoo guest inside KVM, because there is
no pure 64-bit Firefox-bin available.  Firefox wants dbus and gtk and
cairo and pango and sqlite (either built-in or standalone), which Opera
doesn't need.

Here's the output from "emerge -pv firefox-bin"
These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies  ... done!
[ebuild  N    ] media-sound/alsa-headers-1.0.23  3,260 kB
[ebuild  N    ] x11-libs/cairo-1.8.10  USE="X cleartype opengl svg (-aqua) -debug -directfb -doc -glitz -lcdfilter -xcb" 6,944 kB
[ebuild  N    ] app-text/build-docbook-catalog-1.4  3 kB
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.23  USE="-alisp -debug -doc -python" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="-adpcm -alaw -asym -copy -dmix -dshare -dsnoop -empty -extplug -file -hooks -iec958 -ioplug -ladspa -lfloat -linear -meter -mmap_emul -mulaw -multi -null -plug -rate -route -share -shm -softvol" 790 kB
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/atk-1.30.0  USE="-doc (-introspection)" 729 kB
[ebuild  N    ] x11-misc/shared-mime-info-0.80  568 kB
[ebuild  N    ] app-vim/gtk-syntax-20091024  145 kB
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/libxslt-1.1.26  USE="-crypt -debug -python" 3,322 kB
[ebuild  N    ] app-text/sgml-common-0.6.3-r5  75 kB
[ebuild  N    ] sys-apps/dbus-1.4.1  USE="X -debug -doc (-selinux) -static-libs -test" 1,807 kB
[ebuild  N    ] app-text/docbook-xsl-stylesheets-1.75.2  1,507 kB
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/dbus-glib-0.88  USE="-bash-completion -debug -doc -static-libs -test" 673 kB
[ebuild  N    ] app-text/docbook-xml-dtd-4.3-r1  82 kB
[ebuild  N    ] dev-util/gtk-doc-am-1.15  770 kB
[ebuild  N    ] x11-libs/pango-1.28.3  USE="X -debug -doc (-introspection) -test" 1,475 kB
[ebuild  N    ] x11-libs/gtk+-2.20.1-r1  USE="jpeg tiff vim-syntax (-aqua) -cups -debug -doc (-introspection) -jpeg2k -test -xinerama" 18,642 kB
[ebuild  N    ] www-client/firefox-bin-3.6.13  USE="-startup-notification" LINGUAS="-af -ar -as -be -bg -bn -bn_BD -bn_IN -ca -cs -cy -da -de -el -en -en_GB -en_US -eo -es -es_AR -es_CL -es_ES -es_MX -et -eu -fa -fi -fr -fy -fy_NL -ga -ga_IE -gl -gu -gu_IN -he -hi -hi_IN -hr -hu -id -is -it -ja -ka -kk -kn -ko -ku -lt -lv -mk -ml -mr -nb -nb_NO -nl -nn -nn_NO -oc -or -pa -pa_IN -pl -pt -pt_BR -pt_PT -rm -ro -ru -si -sk -sl -sq -sr -sv -sv_SE -ta -ta_LK -te -th -tr -uk -vi -zh -zh_CN -zh_TW" 10,481 kB

Total: 17 packages (17 new), Size of downloads: 51,266 kB


Here's the output from "emerge -pv opera"

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies  ... done!
[ebuild  N    ] dev-util/gperf-3.0.4  961 kB
[ebuild  N    ] x11-proto/xcb-proto-1.6-r1  91 kB
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/libxslt-1.1.26  USE="-crypt -debug -python" 3,322 kB
[ebuild  N    ] x11-libs/libxcb-1.7  USE="-doc (-selinux) -static-libs" 312 kB
[ebuild  N    ] x11-libs/xcb-util-0.3.6  USE="-debug -test" 287 kB
[ebuild  N    ] www-client/opera-11.01.1190  USE="-gstreamer -gtk -kde" LINGUAS="-be -bg -cs -da -de -el -en_GB -es_ES -es_LA -et -fi -fr -fr_CA -fy -hi -hr -hu -id -it -ja -ka -ko -lt -mk -nb -nl -nn -pl -pt -pt_BR -ro -ru -sk -sr -sv -ta -te -tr -uk -vi -zh_CN -zh_HK -zh_TW" 9,680 kB

Total: 6 packages (6 new), Size of downloads: 14,651 kB

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
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