exe file size

John Reimer terminal.node at gmail.com
Thu Nov 13 18:14:23 PST 2008


Hello huurd,

> I use dwt+dwtx, a hello word exe size is 22M, after I use upx the size
> is 800kb.
> 
> exe file appears to be a lot of meaningless repeat, how to remove it?
> 


22M is distastefully huge for a hello world example using dwt and dwtx :(. 
 Like other's suggested, maybe debug info is getting compiled in due to a 
-g switch. 

The file size still may end up being several megabytes, though, even without 
the debug info.  This is more of an annoyance, than a hindrance. DWT has 
a lot to offer; so most people end up coping with the size issue, especially 
if they know they can use something like upx to squeeze things tight.

I can't exactly remember what the cause of this is, but I think it has something 
to do with scads of "hidden" D symbols (moduleinfo?) produced by the D compiler 
for projects that have a combination of (1) tons of modules and (2) many 
interdependencies amongst modules such that even a small project ends up 
linking in ALL (or nearly so) classes from the framework.  This, unfortunately, 
is one of DWT's weaknesses.  I wish the language could help DWT by fixing 
that, but I don't know if that is possible.  Other alternatives that might 
help reduce the problem (I think) is integrating multiple modules into one 
file...but that tends to hinder the whole idea of organization and namespace 
clarity. If DWT were to do this, it would also break import compatibility 
with SWT.  There are a few reasons why this approach is not desirable.

But I hear you.  I really don't like unnecessary bloat either.  It would 
be great if we had some super smart tools that could pair things down a bit.

-JJR





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