Re: How to make Packages file 50% smaller
Following up on my previous mail, it's occurred to me that
/var/lib/dpkg/status et al shouldn't have the descriptions at all.
Regards,
Alex.
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On Fri, 2 Mar 2001, Alexander Hvostov wrote:
> I suggest splitting off each description into a separate file, like Brian
> suggests, and then having dselect et al download descriptions on
> demand. That's almost as fast and helps everyone.
>
> Regards,
>
> Alex.
>
> ---
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> GCS/CM>CC/IT d- s:+ a16 C++(++++)>$ UL++++>$ P--- L++>++$ E+ W+(-) N+ o? K? w---()
> !O !M !V PS+(++)>+ PE-(--) Y+>+ PGP t+>++ !5 X-- R>++ tv(+) b+(++) DI(+) D++
> G>+++ e--> h! !r y>+++
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>
> On 3 Mar 2001, Brian May wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > Does this file really *need* to contain long verbose descriptions of
> > packages?
> >
> > Just by removing the long description (the short description remains),
> > I can cut the compressed file size by over 50%:
> >
> > [1021] [snoopy:bam] ~/admin/linux >cat /var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.melb.apana.org.au_mirror_debian_dists_potato_main_binary-i386_Packages | gzip | wc
> > 3309 19009 828014
> > [1022] [snoopy:bam] ~/admin/linux >cat /var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.melb.apana.org.au_mirror_debian_dists_potato_main_binary-i386_Packages | grep -v "^ " | gzip | wc
> > 1424 8364 384015
> >
> > which would have significant benefits for people like my who don't
> > have high speed ISDN connections and/or have to pay for bandwidth
> > used.
> >
> > This is becoming more and more important, especially now that apt-get
> > can use all stable, testing, and unstable Packages in a useful manner.
> >
> > I can't think of any useful role this long description serves to
> > apt-get, other then displaying of package information for users (with
> > apt-cache), in which case, you could use
> > <URL:http://packages.debian.org/$package instead>.
> >
> > However, I imagine this might upset some people, so why not split the
> > description into a separate file, so you only have to download it if
> > you really want it? (perhaps even only for one distribution instead of
> > all of them).
> >
> >
> > Other proposals in the past to do similar things have failed, or
> > require more time for development before they are usable:
> >
> > - rsync: uses too much load on the server.
> >
> > - rproxy: requires Packages uncompressed, and these may be removed
> > from the servers in the future, see #81657. Furthermore I have had
> > serious problems with current Debian versions of rproxy, see #83603.
> >
> > - rsync friendly gzip: (shows potential; still waiting).
> >
> >
> > I think this proposal has the benefit that it is simple, easy to
> > understand, and can be achieved without *now* without major changes,
> > except perhaps some way to use the separated description file.
> >
> >
> > Comments?
> > --
> > Brian May <bam@debian.org>
> >
> >
> > --
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> >
>
>
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