[MacPorts] #66499: Significantly reduce MacPorts base install size by removing base.tar and compressing ports.tar

[MacPorts]

#66499: Significantly reduce MacPorts base install size by removing base.tar and
compressing ports.tar
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  Reporter:  esbugz       |      Owner:  (none)
      Type:  enhancement  |     Status:  new
  Priority:  Normal       |  Milestone:
 Component:  base         |    Version:  2.8.0
Resolution:               |   Keywords:
      Port:               |
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Comment (by esbugz):

 Replying to [comment:1 ryandesign]:
 > The base.tar and ports.tar files are kept on disk, and are downloaded as
 uncompressed files instead of compressed ones, so that rsync can produce a
 small diff of them so that only a small amount of network traffic is
 needed during updates.

 Sure, but there are much better ways of achieving this while also not
 requiring the full duplicate file to be present, you could get just the
 currently installed base version from the user and then send him the
 compressed diffs, which will be removed after having been applied to the
 installed base to update it to the latest version

 Or for ports you might only need a small index with the latest versions

 > Admittedly, this design decision was made decades ago when base and
 ports were both much smaller.

 Yeah, unfortunately, the duplicately :) unsound decision persisted for way
 too long :(

 > I understand where your suggestions are coming from but they represent
 several significant changes to how MacPorts base works.

 Sure, while also representing a significant improvement in how it works :)

 > If you would like to work on one or more of these changes, I suggest you
 discuss them in detail on the macports-dev mailing list and gain consensus
 on the method of doing so before beginning to write any code. That way you
 can avoid unnecessary work.

 Sorry wouldn't be of much help here, don't know any Tcl or much of C...


 Meanwhile, at least pairing down the vendored Tcl version to the bare
 minimum required to run MacPorts shouldn't need any major changes, right?

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.macports.org/ticket/66499#comment:4>
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