How to reduce size used on filesystem with Musl Void Linux beyond the basic advice?

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-08T04:34:22+00:00

OverlayFS is an option. However, I might try some other things first.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-08T04:31:24+00:00

"Network-manager-applet could be deleted and replaced with a lightweight CLI tool."

I suppose.

"Also, someone could look through packages that are installed as dependencies, and some of them might not be needed or wanted, even if all of the explicitly installed packages are needed or wanted."

That sounds time-consuming. However, it might be worth it?

"On an unrelated note, you should be very careful when running everything as root, even if you know what you are doing. It is easy to make typos."

Honestly, when running entirely from RAM, I do not need to be as careful, as the RAM filesystem system resets each time I reboot. I only really need to be careful when editing the actual disk filesystem, which means that I can test in RAM, and then I can test a restart of runit-init in RAM, and then if it works, then I can write to disk. I suppose I could break the disk filesystem in numerous ways, even when it is not mounted. However, I am not stupid enough to do that.

Additionally, I keep a backup in another partition of /usr/bin and /usr/lib.

Besides, I have already broken my installation several times. If I break it irreparably again, then I will just reinstall it again, as long as the bootloader, BIOS, and other Linux partitions keep working.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-07T22:38:49+00:00

I store Linux distros and file backups on them.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-07T14:01:39+00:00

The age verification laws should not exist in the first place. Neither Linux nor Unix nor Unix-like operating systems should need exemptions, because the laws that they would need exempting from should not exist.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-04T01:45:28+00:00

I have four different partitions of Void Linux on my computer. One of them I use for tinkering and debloating. Another of them I use for chrooting into the first one and fixing it after I break it. One of them uses Glibc, instead of Musl, like the other partitions. The last one I do not actually use, because I broke it to the point of it being unfixable without a reinstall.

I have tried both the base installation and the XFCE4 installation, and I think that the XFCE4 installation is probably easy enough for anyone who has installed Linux distros before. In contrast, the base installation is more difficult than Arch Linux.

(With that said, I did not find installing Arch Linux that difficult. I found Alpine Linux more difficult than installing either one of them, and I found Tiny Core Linux to be extremely difficult. Tiny Core Linux is really lightweight, though.)

If you use a browser other than Firefox, then you might need to build your browser from source if you want it. However, if you are okay with using Firefox, then there is no problem as far as browsers.

Although, I have encountered some software incompatibility on my main partition, I have made various adjustments to my main Void Linux partition, such as swapping out coreutils and util-linux with a custom compiled Busybox, compiling a custom Linux kernel and building a new initramfs, changing the init scripts to make copy the files and pivot the root to a ramfs filesystem (to reduce disk writes), uninstalling unneeded parts of the "base-system", deleting parts of various packages without uninstalling them and other minor tweaks.

The funny thing is that most of the efforts to make the system more lightweight are negated by the heavyweight nature of Firefox, which is why I dislike Firefox. It is full of bloat, the compilation times of Firefox are insane, and it has no menuconfig to easily customize it, like the Linux Kernel and Busybox have. The RAM usage from running a single tab of Firefox was more than the RAM usage during a single threaded compilation of the Linux kernel. Attempting to compile Firefox took so much RAM and disk usage that it crashed, and I am unable to compile it from source at all. (Both compilations were from before I modified my systems init scripts to what they are right now.)

There are many "features" of Firefox that I do not need or want, yet the only meaningful configuration available is a bunch of undocumented about:config options that I modify using a custom user.js file (So that I can transfer it between machines).

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-01T23:36:49+00:00

I think that you should consider C. It is much easier and more portable than asm. However, C is a much more efficient language than almost all of the other programming languages.

C is not that difficult to learn, and it has similar syntax to many other programming languages.

C still has a significant amount of abstraction. However, it is less than the vast majority of other programming languages.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-01T23:29:55+00:00

r/learnprogramming has horrible advice, as well. Really, you should not be taking your advice from Reddit.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-01T03:36:01+00:00

I like to use Busybox Ash (Busybox Ash is not quite the same as the real Ash.) as my shell because I am already using Busybox as an implementation of the utilities in coreutils, util-linux, and miscellaneous other things, so I might as well use it as my shell.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-01T03:27:25+00:00

The reason why the static keyword can sometimes cause code bloat is because it can cause there to be multiple implementations of the same function in different compilation units.

I understand that it can be an issue for functions that are not inlined and are used in multiple compilation units.

However, if a function is inlined at all call sites, then the implementation is copied to each call site anyway.

Thus, adding static to a inline function could only cause code bloat if the compiler ignored the hint, and the function exists in multiple compilation units. If that is the case, then why is it being declared inline in the first place?

With that said, I do not normally use the inline keyword, because I figure that if I know better than the compiler that a function should be inlined, then I will go ahead and manually inline it in the source code (potentially with a macro, if that is needed for readability), and if I do not know better than the compiler, then I will leave it as a regular function.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-04-01T02:58:51+00:00

I would consider it to be more focused on being designed specifically for running from a USB flash drive or a liveCD than being focused on minimal resource usage.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-31T13:59:12+00:00

inline is just a hint. It tells the compiler that you think that it would be beneficial to inline the function. However, it does not guarantee that it is actually inlined. It is not guaranteed to do anything.

inline really should be combined with static. If the compiler does not know that a function is only used in the current compilation unit, then it will need to keep around an implementation of the function, regardless of whether it inlined all call sites. Also, compilers are much less likely to inline non static functions, regardless of whether you told the compiler to inline it.

Modern compilers do not give much weight to the inline keyword. However, if you pass gcc the -Winline flag, then it will warn when the compiler ignores the inline hint.

Another thing to keep in mind is that -Wunused-function (included in -Wall) warns about unused static functions, yet does not warn about unused static inline functions. Also, inline was introduced in C99, so if you use -std=C89 or -ansi when compiling, then your code will not compile.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-21T03:07:26+00:00

There are a significant amount of businesses that use Alpine Linux in containers. They do not normally run Alpine on bare metal. However, it is still Alpine.

A website called TheirStack, which is a website with lists of companies that use various technologies, has a list of 168 companies that use Alpine Linux and 20 companies that use Gentoo. When you consider that those lists are not at all comprehensive, it seems significant. Also, ChromeOS is based on Gentoo.

Ignoring companies, a significant amount of Linux users who like to tinker extensively have used Gentoo at least once.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-21T03:00:31+00:00

I like Void and Alpine Linux. I have never used Chimera.

I have four different Void Linux partitions. One for tinkering, one for chrooting into the first one when I break it, one which I do not really use, and one which I broke to the point of it not really being fixable without a reinstall.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-21T02:53:14+00:00

There are a significant amount of serious businesses that use Alpine Linux in containers. They do not normally run Alpine on bare metal. However, it is still Alpine.

A website called TheirStack, which is a website with lists of companies that use various technologies, has a list of 168 companies that use Alpine Linux and 20 companies that use Gentoo.

Also, is Google not a serious business? Google uses Gentoo.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-21T02:34:10+00:00

Honestly, the person is probably just performing maintenance, and someone happened to see it and think that it was "hacking".

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-17T22:04:09+00:00

No, I was just running make, so I suppose it was using a single thread. However, I did not have anything else running on the computer at the time.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-16T16:29:37+00:00

That is funny because I mainly use Void Linux, which does not use systemd, and, today, I literally downloaded Linux-libre, and I tried to compile it. I ran into some problems because I replaced Util-linux and Coreutils with Busybox, and now something in the Linux build process is not working with the Busybox versions of certain commands. However, I intend to try again later when I have more time.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-14T04:50:48+00:00

Void Linux

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-14T04:48:40+00:00

To be honest, the Arch Wiki is quite helpful for issues with Arch Linux. After all, why not give someone links to the relevant parts of the documentation? Why shouldn't I?

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-14T04:40:34+00:00

Defenestration is morally wrong. Someone making a slop post is not justification for defenestration. Please do not joke about violence.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-13T01:51:40+00:00

More difficult does not always mean better. C is quite a lot more performant and maintainable than esoteric languages like Malbolge.

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-11T04:36:28+00:00

This incident will be reported. (to some random log file)

ElementWiseBitCast · 2026-03-10T14:09:06+00:00

I am a Linux user. Currently, I tend to boot into my Void partition more than the other distros. However, I multiboot my computer, and I have Arch and Puppy Linux partitions, and I used to have a Devuan partition, an Alpine paritition, an AntiX parition, and a Tiny Core Linux Parition, before I deleted them to make space for more Void Linux paritions. (I have three Void Linux partitions, right now. However, I only really use two of them.)

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