I installed 8.0.0-rc1 and compared the files to a 7.0.10 release for win x86-64.
About 90% of the files (by size) had identical contents. By hardlinking the identical files, the additional space taken having the RC installed is quite reasonable.
This is only of interest if you have storage issues.
It’s also not a comment on the effort.
Most of the size of the full installer comes from the 3D model library.
Indeed.
After a short check. For KiCad:
201MB /usr/bin/ (The binaries).
150MB /usr/share/kicad/symbols (Schematic symbols)
175MB /usr/share/kicad/footprints
5.9GB for the 3D models in: /user/share/kicad/3dmodels
Cost for storage is less then EUR 2 for that amount of data on an SSD. Is it really worth spending time on that?
But I confess. A few years ago I maneuvered myself in a tight spot. Back then I had installed Linux on a small partition and ran out of space. It was the last partition on the SSD and difficult to expand. In such a situation it makes (a bit of) sense to uninstall the 3D models or move them to another partition or HDD. I did not want to put much effort into maintenance, and therefore my own solution was to just buy a new PC. (The old one was 10+ years old and I wanted a 4k monitor too, which that hardware did not support).
Is it really worth spending time on that?
No, not for the cost of the storage. But done with lots of S/W packages, it does help on my old laptop. I do many things that make no economic sense. Recycling Al cans benefits me at about 15 cents an hour for cleaning and crushing, … .
[My real motivation is to reduce backup time.]
For the life of me, I can’t figure out how recycling aluminum cans makes backups faster…
If you backup over the cans, it already flattens them and this makes it easier to pack them into a bag and deliver them to the recycling facility.
A bit bonkers:
Here in The Netherlands, you should not put dents in aluminium cans. Recycling of aluminium cans has been introduced relatively recent, and not all cans have a deposit, and therefore the machines have to be able to read a bar code or otherwise recognize the cans.
You probably could have got most of the savings by not installing the 8.0.0-rc1 libraries and adjusting the path variables to point to the existing 7.0.10 libraries, sticking with the old symbols, footprints and 3D models for a bit longer.
I very much want to see the Libraries grow. I think they only scratch less than 1% of all components and still lack generics footprints for way to many sub variants.
As from a separate topic there are arguments of the 3D files taking to much space. For me the space is not the issue but rather the files that are linked by default. I see no reason that all footprints should not include a link to both WRL and STEP. I think they all include a link even the ones that do not have a model assuming some day in the future a model will become available. So with this in mind I see no reason that at install, 3d files should not have an options, Skip, Both, WRL or STEP. This way if space is an issue, skip. If a preference to on or the other is true, select only what is needed.
You probably could have got most of the savings by not installing the 8.0.0-rc1 libraries …
Agreed but I’d prefer to test the entire candidate.
This trimming of multiple installs is automated and I do it for all packages where I have more than one installed simultaneously (FreeCAD current vs. weekly, …), so the cost to me for my method is very low.
GP
I download the ‘lite’ version. Only software without library. I use old library mostly. Only download what I need.
Some improvements are in discussion and be interest to you. They involves also the library keeper team, not just source code.
hildogjr:
Thank you for the information and references. I don’t think I have anything to contribute other than my initial observation. To wit: with some hardlinking, the space burden of having the full RC is not great after the identical files are discovered and hardlinked. My only real interest was to enable more testing of the RCs.
I will follow the compression discussion and the 3D model discussion with some interest, the latter because I have some personal 3D models that will have to comply with whatever is decided.
As I may have noted, I perform this step of hardlinking on all software packages where I have multiple versions. As others have noted, the space isn’t all that costly. But for me, keeping the daily full backups smaller (= faster) is important.
GlennP
What is the use of backing up KiCad’s binaries and default libraries?
One button restore after a total system failure.
Otherwise, I’d have to re-install and configure ~60 packages.
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