> I would not recommend using an old release! However both NetBSD and
> OpenBSD became fat! I don't think it is only the kernel, it looks as if
> every single program got a bit fatter in the years, even plain old stuff
> like bash or xterm.
^^^^ ^^^^^
It is a bit hard to consider those our fault.
What has gotten a bit fat is the kernel, but that is due to more
device drivers, which people surely don't want us to remove.
But back to userland. Let's just look at libc.so from 2001
to present:
text data bss dec hex
360448 32768 179080 572296 8bb88 libc.so.12.6
376832 32768 179400 589000 8fcc8 libc.so.12.7
376832 32768 179488 589088 8fd20 libc.so.13.0
380928 32768 179752 593448 90e28 libc.so.13.1
380928 32768 179752 593448 90e28 libc.so.13.3
405504 32768 182520 620792 978f8 libc.so.15.0
405504 32768 182572 620844 9792c libc.so.16.0
405504 32768 182588 620860 9793c libc.so.16.1
405504 32768 182928 621200 97a90 libc.so.16.3
409600 32768 185404 627772 9943c libc.so.17.1
409600 32768 185412 627780 99444 libc.so.17.3
409600 32768 185420 627788 9944c libc.so.17.4
409600 32768 185556 627924 994d4 libc.so.17.5
409600 32768 185612 627980 9950c libc.so.17.6
409600 32768 185836 628204 995ec libc.so.17.7
417792 32768 186180 636740 9b744 libc.so.17.8
417792 32768 186196 636756 9b754 libc.so.18.0
417792 32768 186208 636768 9b760 libc.so.19.0
434176 32768 186220 653164 9f76c libc.so.20.1
434176 32768 185964 652908 9f66c libc.so.20.2
434176 32768 185964 652908 9f66c libc.so.20.3
438272 32768 189552 660592 a1470 libc.so.21.0
442368 32768 189556 664692 a2474 libc.so.21.1
462848 32768 189912 685528 a75d8 libc.so.21.2
471040 32768 190152 693960 a96c8 libc.so.23.1
471040 32768 190152 693960 a96c8 libc.so.23.2
475136 32768 190300 698204 aa75c libc.so.23.3
483328 36864 186268 706460 ac79c libc.so.24.0
491520 36864 186648 715032 ae918 libc.so.24.2
491520 36864 186648 715032 ae918 libc.so.24.4
491520 36864 186888 715272 aea08 libc.so.24.5
491520 36864 187036 715420 aea9c libc.so.25.0
495616 36864 187216 719696 afb50 libc.so.25.1
503808 36864 187452 728124 b1c3c libc.so.25.2
503808 36864 187452 728124 b1c3c libc.so.25.3
516096 36864 187712 740672 b4d40 libc.so.25.4
516096 36864 190304 743264 b5760 libc.so.26.0
516096 36864 190328 743288 b5778 libc.so.26.1
520192 36864 190332 747388 b677c libc.so.26.2
520192 36864 190344 747400 b6788 libc.so.27.0
520192 36864 190384 747440 b67b0 libc.so.27.2
520192 36864 190272 747328 b6740 libc.so.27.3
520192 36864 190400 747456 b67c0 libc.so.28.0
524288 36864 190408 751560 b77c8 libc.so.28.1
524288 36864 190448 751600 b77f0 libc.so.28.2
524288 36864 190516 751668 b7834 libc.so.28.3
528384 36864 189820 755068 b857c libc.so.28.5
528384 36864 189820 755068 b857c libc.so.28.6
528384 36864 189836 755084 b858c libc.so.28.7
528384 36864 189844 755092 b8594 libc.so.28.8
548864 36864 190152 775880 bd6c8 libc.so.29.0
569044 35028 196684 800756 c37f4 libc.so.29.1
578562 35096 196684 810342 c5d66 libc.so.30.0
577412 33240 125808 736460 b3ccc libc.so.30.1
578038 33196 125776 737010 b3ef2 libc.so.30.3
580322 33056 125772 739150 b474e libc.so.31.0
579678 32672 126056 738406 b4466 libc.so.32.0
576538 31460 125704 733702 b3206 libc.so.33.0
577902 31376 125608 734886 b36a6 libc.so.34.1
571351 31572 119208 722131 b04d3 libc.so.34.2
577091 31376 119136 727603 b1a33 libc.so.35.1
583570 32024 119264 734858 b368a libc.so.37.0
593123 32404 124544 750071 b71f7 libc.so.38.1
577053 14468 124672 716193 aeda1 libc.so.38.2
577898 14496 124672 717066 af10a libc.so.38.4
582696 14468 124512 721676 b030c libc.so.39.0
581622 14472 124512 720606 afede libc.so.39.1
581714 14472 124512 720698 aff3a libc.so.39.2
581570 14472 124512 720554 afeaa libc.so.39.3
581570 14472 124512 720554 afeaa libc.so.40.0
586894 14480 135172 736546 b3d22 libc.so.40.3
584440 14516 135140 734096 b3390 libc.so.41.0
585460 14536 135140 735136 b37a0 libc.so.42.0
585902 14540 135140 735582 b395e libc.so.43.0
587519 14560 135140 737219 b3fc3 libc.so.44.0
587994 14560 135140 737694 b419e libc.so.45.0
587276 14532 143460 745268 b5f34 libc.so.47.0
588134 14564 143460 746158 b62ae libc.so.48.0
611078 15132 140100 766310 bb166 libc.so.49.0
613574 15200 149604 778378 be08a libc.so.50.0
618361 15208 149604 783173 bf345 libc.so.50.1
619591 15236 149892 784719 bf94f libc.so.51.0
619571 15236 149892 784699 bf93b libc.so.51.1
621095 15172 149892 786159 bfeef libc.so.52.0
627184 15252 149924 792360 c1728 libc.so.53.0
627188 15252 149924 792364 c172c libc.so.53.1
695057 14772 149988 859817 d1ea9 libc.so.56.0
679033 14820 151752 845605 ce725 libc.so.58.0
697420 14836 147656 859912 d1f08 libc.so.58.2
701074 14780 127112 842966 cdcd6 libc.so.60.1
720853 15104 127112 863069 d2b5d libc.so.66.2
722616 14732 131112 868460 d406c libc.so.68.0
722334 14732 131112 868178 d3f52 libc.so.68.1
722553 14732 131112 868397 d402d libc.so.68.2
726341 14748 131096 872185 d4ef9 libc.so.68.3
726669 14748 131096 872513 d5041 libc.so.68.4
726395 14736 131096 872227 d4f23 libc.so.69.0
732383 14704 131904 878991 d698f libc.so.70.0
730696 14696 131904 877296 d62f0 libc.so.71.0
730696 14696 131904 877296 d62f0 libc.so.72.0
That doesn't look like a lot of growth, considering it includes a
switch to ELF, newer compilers that sometimes generate larger (but
faster code), wide character support, parts the the pthread
functionalty, and who knows what else.
