That’s still totally insane. I get the appeal of compiling everything from source but it ain’t for me. Btw, Firefox is on version 115 right now. Is there any particular reason you’re going for 102, if you don’t mind me asking?
Yeah, it’s not for everyone. I actually like it though. I used Manjaro on a PineBook Pro and was really underwhelmed with the system updates only taking 30 seconds to complete. I like compiling Firefox myself because I disable EME (DRM plugin) capability at build time.
The later versions aren’t stable yet. I don’t know if they back-port any security patches or not. I’m using the ESR version of Firefox
Edit: I should probably mention that this package is the largest on my system. Nothing else takes this long for me.
I’m not really sure, and the answer is a little complicated because I’ve been having ChatGPT trim it down for me over the past couple of days. We knocked out the networking stuff, and started on disabling support for peripherals I don’t have. I want to say it’s around 20 minutes, but some things may be cached from previous builds.
Edit: I had some time to rebuild my kernel today. I ran ‘make clean’ first, and used the ‘time’ command to generate the following:
time make -j$(($(nproc) + 1))
...
real 24m59.431s
user 335m13.697s
sys 39m5.877s
Oh, it gets a lot better than that. Every package on my system is stripped down, or modified in some way at build time.
It’s a lot like Arch, where nearly all software choices are left to the user, but you can also choose to enable/disable certain USE flags.
These are all of the USE flags you can enable or disable on a per package or system-wide basis.
Edit: Take ‘cups’ for example. I don’t use a printer, so by disabling the ‘cups’ USE flag, any software that previously had code for printing no longer has this code in the resulting binary. The software runs a little faster, has a little less bloat, and could potentially be more secure.
It’s not such a huge leap since you already know which packages to install from having to install them on Arch.
With a decent CPU the kernel compiles pretty fast. I’m using a default configuration with modules disabled (compiled in) and various settings enabled/optimized for my hardware, and this is what I get:
make -j24
real2m16.357s
user 38m36.133s
sys 4m26.449s
Firefox 115 actually happens to be an ESR release, by the way. So, you can probably upgrade to that right now. You just couldn’t upgrade throughout 103–114…
Yeah, it can definitely be faster. I limit how many cores portage can use, and I’m always watching Twitch or doing something else with the PC while it compiles. Plus, this is on a laptop.
Those are 10 threads, so about 5 cores. The CPU governor is set to ‘powersave’, which lowers the clock speed. I try save the other 3 cores for Firefox, etc.
Maybe 10 years ago. Firefox used to take 8+ hours to compile, now it only takes 1 hour on my laptop
That’s still totally insane. I get the appeal of compiling everything from source but it ain’t for me. Btw, Firefox is on version 115 right now. Is there any particular reason you’re going for 102, if you don’t mind me asking?
Yeah, it’s not for everyone. I actually like it though. I used Manjaro on a PineBook Pro and was really underwhelmed with the system updates only taking 30 seconds to complete. I like compiling Firefox myself because I disable EME (DRM plugin) capability at build time.
The later versions aren’t stable yet. I don’t know if they back-port any security patches or not.I’m using the ESR version of FirefoxEdit: I should probably mention that this package is the largest on my system. Nothing else takes this long for me.
How long does the Linux kernel take?
I’m not really sure, and the answer is a little complicated because I’ve been having ChatGPT trim it down for me over the past couple of days. We knocked out the networking stuff, and started on disabling support for peripherals I don’t have. I want to say it’s around 20 minutes, but some things may be cached from previous builds.
Edit: I had some time to rebuild my kernel today. I ran ‘make clean’ first, and used the ‘time’ command to generate the following:
Thanks for your reply. I have to admit a stripped down kernel sounds intriguing. Maybe I’ll switch from Arch to Gentoo some day after all!
Oh, it gets a lot better than that. Every package on my system is stripped down, or modified in some way at build time.
It’s a lot like Arch, where nearly all software choices are left to the user, but you can also choose to enable/disable certain USE flags.
These are all of the USE flags you can enable or disable on a per package or system-wide basis.
Edit: Take ‘cups’ for example. I don’t use a printer, so by disabling the ‘cups’ USE flag, any software that previously had code for printing no longer has this code in the resulting binary. The software runs a little faster, has a little less bloat, and could potentially be more secure.
It’s not such a huge leap since you already know which packages to install from having to install them on Arch.
Great idea to use GPT for that! Been wanting to trim mine down for a while; will give it a shot.
With a decent CPU the kernel compiles pretty fast. I’m using a default configuration with modules disabled (compiled in) and various settings enabled/optimized for my hardware, and this is what I get:
make -j24 real 2m16.357s user 38m36.133s sys 4m26.449sTry it with ‘make clean’ first ;)
Edit: but backup your .config file, because it will be deleted
Yep that was after make clean :). Running a 12-core Ryzen 9 that’s a few years old and 64GB RAM; using 24 threads does speed it up quite a lot.
Edit: to be sure, I completely removed the source directory and re-emerged
gentoo-sourcesand got similar resultsFor compile or for boot?
Boot has been under 10 seconds since I got my first SSD. Entering the password to decrypt LUKS takes longer than that lol
Thanks, I appreciate your answer!
Firefox ESR, probably
You’re right, I didn’t know that.
Firefox 115 actually happens to be an ESR release, by the way. So, you can probably upgrade to that right now. You just couldn’t upgrade throughout 103–114…
And that’s just Firefox. Sometimes I get annoyed if pacman presents me with a long list even though it takes a few minutes max.
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To compile a web browser, they do provide you with a binary in the official Gentoo repos
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I used Arch until switched from the original sys-v init to systemd. I moved to Gentoo to escape all things systemd
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Mine take 30 minutes. I usually do it when I’m not using the machine
Yeah, it can definitely be faster. I limit how many cores portage can use, and I’m always watching Twitch or doing something else with the PC while it compiles. Plus, this is on a laptop.
Modify niceness of portage.
I’ve been using the MAKEOPTS flag in my make.conf
It’s using 10 out of 16 threads, and can compile up to 123 packages simultaneously
1 hr compile time over 10 threads? Somethings off, and you said you’re on laptop.
Those are 10 threads, so about 5 cores. The CPU governor is set to ‘powersave’, which lowers the clock speed. I try save the other 3 cores for Firefox, etc.