Re: Large amount of dependencies downloaded

[Simon Tournier]

Hi,

On Sun, 03 Dec 2023 at 05:31, TJ <tj@sheer.tj> wrote:

> I have used the gc to clear out old packages and revisions to save
> space, however, if I want to install a new package, it starts pulling
> guile, python, etc.
>
> I've posted the install log for xdot at the end of the message.
> Ghostscript was downloaded multiple times, ghostscript-with-cups-9.56.1
> was downloaded twice, and gnome-backgrounds is somehow a dependency.
>
> I believe over 300MB of packages were downloaded using 1-2GB of space.
> This is on a laptop which already has many graphical dependencies.
> Currently, 145 packages take 43GB of space over 2 main revisions.

In Guix terms, we speak about the closure – all the requirements for a
package.  Maybe give a look to the manual for more explanations:

https://guix.gnu.org/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Invoking-guix-size

Here you can see the size that ’xdot’ takes on your disk, a bit more
than 1G.

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ guix size xdot
store item                                                       total    self
/gnu/store/qiw0rpaj4rlgpldh12xac03n8rf301zm-mesa-23.1.4            334.7   
135.3  12.8%
/gnu/store/lwlhqac99h0mhnwh3k2iglsccii6q3wx-llvm-for-mesa-15.0.7   180.4   
104.7   9.9%
/gnu/store/dy3xh053ahkhrp2jamggq8cpsyvp8mg0-python-3.10.7          226.3    
74.0   7.0%
/gnu/store/lj75fc25zx2y9pqvfp95la84rdhlj4f8-perl-5.36.0            152.2    
59.4   5.6%
/gnu/store/4gvgcfdiz67wv04ihqfa8pqwzsb0qpv5-guile-3.0.9            135.0    
53.1   5.0%
/gnu/store/1a52bs04rxa2spzcj7b7xdx85faqg23m-gnome-backgrounds-42.0    49.4    
49.4   4.7%
/gnu/store/5yq6fg2dda7wvzr7grjz5bvnqf5wv19j-gtk+-3.24.37           915.1    
49.3   4.7%
/gnu/store/cr9b4ra4hw0pjsjanflrwc8x93wvskdh-ghostscript-with-cups-9.56.1   
169.6    44.9   4.2%
/gnu/store/0ibv7vw1ff6f4c15p9c0k4izx4kqwlkr-icu4c-71.1             116.1    
39.8   3.8%
/gnu/store/gsjczqir1wbz8p770zndrpw4rnppmxi3-glibc-2.35              40.6    
38.8   3.7%
/gnu/store/930nwsiysdvy2x5zv1sf6v7ym75z8ayk-gcc-11.3.0-lib          75.3    
34.7   3.3%
/gnu/store/gqsxab8w881ds9raxkv74k0xcjds3z10-tcl-8.6.12             102.0    
25.7   2.4%
/gnu/store/mcdi162f45smrgvjmm3vldx2i1xhz0x5-iso-codes-4.5.0         18.5    
18.5   1.8%
/gnu/store/jx38np9wsq7n6v4xlrxgn9xj88r3wp3a-eudev-3.2.11           106.0    
17.6   1.7%
/gnu/store/mc9gdsm0cqpyd2522f5xghdl59p1l35r-nss-3.88.1             182.4    
17.0   1.6%
/gnu/store/a5i8avx826brw5grn3n4qv40g514505c-coreutils-9.1           91.8    
16.5   1.6%
/gnu/store/nb40pwd37v6i1g4b1fq4l6q4h9px3asr-glib-2.72.3            101.3    
14.9   1.4%
/gnu/store/fbfbcs4z684my3k1v9lkmhhq6in3hqlp-cups-2.4.2             360.5    
13.6   1.3%
/gnu/store/v0jyv9qjycr5lcc9m018g2g73gv7wv1g-gobject-introspection-1.72.0   
264.9    13.0   1.2%
/gnu/store/v1xbz7475bd61038cvlwwh4f961ncqlq-poppler-data-0.4.11     12.4    
12.4   1.2%
/gnu/store/4gz42w3ky78bi34gm42ii9jhgf2nxc4q-librsvg-2.56.4         203.5    
10.4   1.0%
/gnu/store/zan3d655r50cv5gxvj2l5yybwhy6x3n4-font-dejavu-2.37         9.8     
9.8   0.9%
/gnu/store/8mpj84j4k6g3xbypm5ijav7fq7xvcndn-cups-minimal-2.4.2     100.8     
9.0   0.9%
/gnu/store/gwx2sf5wl9bsl21lwv35g5la63bwyy95-util-linux-2.37.4-lib    84.3     
9.0   0.8%
/gnu/store/ng3fshc47wyghdi4w29lymra6ycfa5n2-tk-8.6.12              130.9     
8.4   0.8%
/gnu/store/69wd3pd1hd3j84xr965jj2fk2qmxn0hl-openssl-3.0.8           83.4     
8.1   0.8%
/gnu/store/rbrk8r5r1qza08kyhdlf2ap8vd3v5sbi-poppler-22.09.0        257.2     
7.3   0.7%
/gnu/store/7z9cgiq7dkajqfk991lniv77s1kbag28-shared-mime-info-1.15   112.6     
6.9   0.7%
/gnu/store/pwxyw0h6pd0cnbw0b9c3ran1q78w3jjm-xkeyboard-config-2.38     6.6     
6.6   0.6%
/gnu/store/n7vynkl0rkqmvahxji6530n8hmfscxsd-harfbuzz-5.3.1         152.1     
6.4   0.6%
/gnu/store/m6c5hgqg569mbcjjbp8l8m7q82ascpdl-bash-5.1.16             88.8     
6.2   0.6%
/gnu/store/bcc053jvsbspdjr17gnnd9dg85b3a0gy-ncurses-6.2.20210619    81.2     
5.9   0.6%
/gnu/store/i4z9p6wy7f41baxiwsfiq7p0zqkvsnj5-shadow-4.13             83.3     
5.1   0.5%
/gnu/store/sg4nlq7fxkbk4pcrngn9yx3c7lz8jzlg-gsettings-desktop-schemas-42.0    
54.1     4.7   0.4%
/gnu/store/isrq6r5jcfpp0vbzx7spnsl2f2jllvk1-font-ghostscript-8.11     4.5     
4.5   0.4%
/gnu/store/yr4lbvdyc4dgs76yij1dw2w2z8s84af8-gnutls-3.7.7            91.8     
4.5   0.4%
/gnu/store/8ljq5ipy0gs6w69rjigz11vf01zqzaxh-graphviz-7.0.1         242.3     
4.4   0.4%
/gnu/store/29nibzg6lfj6rqjcyhbwmrmjs6midc6f-colord-minimal-1.4.6   221.0     
4.4   0.4%
/gnu/store/9dpawzcwwlvakvsgp0gbgs47zzivskpg-elogind-252.9          182.2     
4.0   0.4%
/gnu/store/zrnfv01frzkijf5rqgq9xyaa06gfmsiq-at-spi2-core-2.45.90   168.1     
4.0   0.4%
/gnu/store/n4sqy6s9dl6xh0xjasbkfk4683fydxqs-qpdf-11.1.0             81.2     
3.6   0.3%
/gnu/store/f5dk5089j96i8qanpi0lkcbc1wjywd0l-cups-filters-1.28.15   345.0     
3.5   0.3%
/gnu/store/iyaad74kw54jrqzpwm5r4jagfr8dgirp-elfutils-0.187          81.9     
3.5   0.3%
/gnu/store/vq7dxp5la2lnhsvniwv38j0ggvsmzim7-p11-kit-0.24.1          80.1     
3.4   0.3%
/gnu/store/4jakqiibsvrkv4jdw1wyl6racrwv9bkh-sqlite-3.39.3           86.0     
3.4   0.3%
/gnu/store/1ig678c8vqxvr60x8swmc5wriga7sjf3-gdk-pixbuf-2.42.8      119.8     
3.2   0.3%
/gnu/store/qabydd2r26gcr9s26hzchip3a3h3zhg4-libxcb-1.15             78.5     
3.0   0.3%
/gnu/store/kghsgglwvwrcyghhnl6ig2dnfdacjc70-libepoxy-1.5.10        337.5     
2.8   0.3%
/gnu/store/0hvkv5kvrk7ix29pfnbkyppbdxa7ki7n-libx11-1.8.1            81.2     
2.8   0.3%
/gnu/store/ib2n2vzqpchc3bhh9i712w5sq9zapn8d-gmp-6.2.1               78.0     
2.7   0.3%
/gnu/store/0jk7sl5xqwwdkzjpp9sxgz9z0d48a3vy-libunistring-1.0        77.8     
2.5   0.2%
/gnu/store/3dv9xf07gnmc4gpm0a4h0g7j58dx3l05-freetype-2.13.0         79.9     
2.5   0.2%
/gnu/store/rr1vbf04j27z5465wsm1kdfaw3iriz2k-pango-1.50.10          176.1     
2.3   0.2%
/gnu/store/d8shkvrmynpp3771yi7hipsd10s725vm-guile-fibers-1.1.1     137.2     
2.2   0.2%
/gnu/store/85276hii9m2x894d5j2zhnahg8viy1sj-libjpeg-turbo-2.1.4     77.4     
2.1   0.2%
/gnu/store/xmki1hff6siwrsx8dh7r2b7nh10rx4bw-libevent-2.1.12         77.4     
2.1   0.2%
/gnu/store/g9cpfynzy3ryv9jprgvwf3g2mnd5p11q-libxml2-2.9.14          79.9     
2.0   0.2%
/gnu/store/65f0cdmsv7qqrc01hjvriwhlrimn4kxv-linux-pam-1.5.2         78.2     
1.9   0.2%
/gnu/store/z0dsran94vbskmcx8ij7g0v1yhp7f11b-libxkbcommon-1.4.1      95.7     
1.9   0.2%
/gnu/store/zzyywykw7kriln18rxqd82f0k5kidla7-bash-static-5.1.16       1.8     
1.8   0.2%
/gnu/store/ws9j019x3xhx2ic45rrd00cm4h52z027-shepherd-0.9.3         139.0     
1.8   0.2%
/gnu/store/gg3kycn5wfjwskx3xfkk1qscjgsvaxcn-cairo-1.16.0           126.1     
1.8   0.2%
/gnu/store/h991pp3p9rks2zq338jlp687bw0ag2c1-cairo-1.16.0           126.1     
1.8   0.2%
/gnu/store/bvc7jfm2pkxf3yn2v50a761amz7w43iz-avahi-0.8              114.5     
1.7   0.2%
/gnu/store/fxspvmsmypn6g74mx3dc58qmh16n90vj-pcre-8.45               77.0     
1.7   0.2%
/gnu/store/jxkn98nnk2pv3fy7cx2baaynkr4c63wp-nspr-4.35              154.7     
1.6   0.1%
/gnu/store/lxfc2a05ysi7vlaq0m3w5wsfsy0drdlw-readline-8.1.2          82.6     
1.4   0.1%
/gnu/store/6k1yys9wqrfn4y41ic1win8gpnimncwj-xz-5.2.8                77.7     
1.4   0.1%
/gnu/store/nv5q3a8wf16arzgvgqc3125xbglqg5z2-xz-5.2.8                77.7     
1.4   0.1%
/gnu/store/4mnxhv2bx20fm16n3hq6jqf309kp1xx7-libtiff-4.4.0           81.5     
1.4   0.1%
/gnu/store/g0k2f4w3f1nd4kdcgmhjbzrjy0sz2ic9-gts-0.7.6              103.6     
1.3   0.1%
/gnu/store/jz5dwdxq4di29cd0rjjzkw356dhkzjil-pkg-config-0.29.2       76.4     
1.1   0.1%
/gnu/store/q54qpx235li33zmkvmid1xzgcs7srdjd-dbus-1.14.0             82.7     
1.1   0.1%
/gnu/store/hqxzgbbbnxl8l9q8bcsvzvmyw1mjws4r-zstd-1.5.2-lib          76.4     
1.1   0.1%
/gnu/store/4si6azarzks3y3klsxkfrjd1vj1l61l9-libdrm-2.4.114          81.1     
1.0   0.1%
/gnu/store/9vw5slrffp27rzy2i2plnw7xfqjyk7m4-bash-minimal-5.1.16     76.3     
1.0   0.1%
/gnu/store/c2fx42ial6lr60s96xcbml5hd8vwaxq3-nettle-3.8.1            79.0     
1.0   0.1%
/gnu/store/rib9g2ig1xf3kclyl076w28parmncg4k-bash-minimal-5.1.16     41.6     
1.0   0.1%
/gnu/store/w7wn2i3pj8r8ji2qi60vaxy8gy7gi8ai-polkit-121             200.8     
0.9   0.1%
/gnu/store/ixr7c3jadiqg640b8pz3njqhhm5zzmvj-grep-3.8                77.2     
0.9   0.1%
/gnu/store/a3flz4vpqgnjxc6jv0cjv6f7qdbg4igz-wayland-1.22.0          81.3     
0.8   0.1%
/gnu/store/vl0ba6qp69i9rwzvh45zc3vjmd81r7sw-openjpeg-2.5.0          83.4     
0.8   0.1%
/gnu/store/1w1r6r56z9lhg8ghcb7lxss6mkn7d5l1-libgc-8.2.2             76.1     
0.8   0.1%
/gnu/store/kp3flfjkywlfw7ka93gaz4vvbjgjsq1l-duktape-2.6.0           76.1     
0.8   0.1%
/gnu/store/31nrpzwids7sn442zc36fwx559srjhl3-libthai-0.1.29          76.2     
0.7   0.1%
/gnu/store/230z5hh5dj6kwgf9lg87vg997qkdgqxb-gd-2.3.2                93.5     
0.7   0.1%
/gnu/store/1r1azdi4hvfypnx14d01n60p4aa7g2im-libidn2-2.3.4           78.5     
0.7   0.1%
/gnu/store/p6za1mhsrw7fxgngyjkkm6z9dkgdfnqf-pixman-0.40.0           76.0     
0.7   0.1%
/gnu/store/c6n7h131fdckr39yv1rc7z9fbm0yk177-python-pygobject-3.42.2   269.2     
0.7   0.1%
/gnu/store/gby05amyk0g0whcgdajghx56n2jnhhfv-lcms-2.13.1             82.1     
0.7   0.1%
/gnu/store/2w976k6g70gkfih9wwhalqsni209vcqz-gdbm-1.23               75.9     
0.6   0.1%
/gnu/store/fncsrwapajvfkl76zmn6z1cxqd7hlbqf-fontconfig-minimal-2.14.0    90.7   
  0.6   0.1%
/gnu/store/y4j3v2rzc6cvhkbdcxc99klrfrc8grdz-pciutils-3.8.0          79.9     
0.6   0.1%
/gnu/store/zkxvwia0z25409k1kmm0jqzfk9prc8fx-libpng-1.6.37           77.1     
0.5   0.1%
/gnu/store/4l5sxsls14ikiir6vxnbg1kg1fblj313-python-pycairo-1.21.0   256.0     
0.5   0.0%
/gnu/store/pl09vk5g3cl8fxfln2hjk996pyahqk8m-bzip2-1.0.8             76.7     
0.4   0.0%
/gnu/store/j8wlfmlmfvpbza6is9wv9xsd8psrxn00-bzip2-1.0.8             76.7     
0.4   0.0%
/gnu/store/hgljcrwcgksxrcl77yybgmpl11d8xxx3-libusb-1.0.25           75.7     
0.4   0.0%
/gnu/store/fw1wywd34vh33l4dq182ds5d7jdz45j5-expat-2.5.0             75.7     
0.4   0.0%
/gnu/store/70b02n7xkabn9nl5bpbxc0y3qc37i0xm-acl-2.3.1               75.9     
0.3   0.0%
/gnu/store/gshm356bzhwhg9f6jjihkf3l8y1601cd-kmod-29                 79.3     
0.3   0.0%
/gnu/store/sjy64dvx18yc5p29zywmg01k3g53p643-libcap-2.64             75.6     
0.3   0.0%
/gnu/store/63585s4ccp01hrwbix146aqjzbs47i6f-gusb-minimal-0.3.5     102.0     
0.3   0.0%
/gnu/store/jjnbhhpka0xk8jjs6y973g86n9nm0wqk-fribidi-1.0.12          75.6     
0.3   0.0%
/gnu/store/pacnc2m1nab4n74aqlzxgddznk30amdz-attr-2.5.1              75.6     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/skz71j7pmi8pqmqmcjyaizd7l9hlfd6f-graphite2-1.3.13        75.5     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/j5kzdjan6mnf2ngmkc50fia8vrbpqi9b-libtasn1-4.19.0         75.5     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/6r4brvchlkbbqx2n2iz2p6i2ki78zfp2-kexec-tools-2.0.23      77.9     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/slzq3zqwj75lbrg4ly51hfhbv2vhryv5-zlib-1.2.13             75.5     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/qwd6fyrnh8i05mx6n5c1vhn4cjrgvm9n-xdot-1.1              1058.9     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/w8b0l8hk6g0fahj4fvmc4qqm3cvaxnmv-libffi-3.4.4            75.5     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/hhh6ymrll1i9b8zgr4gfsbsgbc75azc2-jbig2dec-0.19           75.5     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/0hsah70650jx4zx4dngm2pq5v1zh7cc9-libgudev-236           122.9     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/i371k86cad71y1z0br3d2awgrs4kdjqc-libdatrie-0.2.13        75.5     
0.2   0.0%
/gnu/store/q5d961dnm2bq79qxic85a842k4gdlzqd-libltdl-2.4.7           75.4     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/z8kgahaarjpl0b1nzpqmzyrm4bbmnxw3-libxext-1.3.4           81.4     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/xkzw5shd6bchzvhv9d6p08hsny749jdd-libxdmcp-1.1.3          75.4     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/i7lls5jbad877g0fv7s87rlw0dgxp3wm-libxi-1.7.10            81.5     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/x2a1qx3syync9q4ka1gh8g0svrcq86k6-libdaemon-0.14          75.4     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/74rb4yrph1yf6whfp7vz9xcyda8jml5i-libxft-2.3.4            96.8     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/ck5m2chijap9c8warmx4af7ppc0wixsx-libxtst-1.2.3           81.6     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/fngdhfba9gpg5j3avix6l0jffpfmq98r-libpciaccess-0.16       80.0     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/jagz5ysccffxq0aplm3zvk2icqg7s664-libcloudproviders-minimal-0.3.1   
101.4     0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/imfq9cgm2m86zxrl1139h580bx8jvwig-libpaper-2.0.0          76.4     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/3b5rrbrfnwzc08vl4zd31h5dwzs5lwjw-libxcursor-1.2.1        81.4     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/x0p8rbcpql70zf3fvj9fbha67mfq93j7-libxrender-0.9.10       81.3     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/sw9xqs3p0a46ilr15gg2sq6i3v0wa1jj-libxrandr-1.5.2         81.5     
0.1   0.0%
/gnu/store/v3dmk08jbmwsn5a916sf8h9ls5dyz7m2-libxxf86vm-1.1.4        81.4     
0.0   0.0%
/gnu/store/q713d5aybqlv76qaxc7dkgs12r2sc8i5-libxfixes-6.0.0         81.3     
0.0   0.0%
/gnu/store/wmgh1njh6fxahjbn3mpbnc3788gz627a-libxcomposite-0.4.5     81.3     
0.0   0.0%
/gnu/store/h582yg8z9mdg8ga0cx52lh701z37fmqp-libxinerama-1.1.4       81.4     
0.0   0.0%
/gnu/store/9w1rhd8c25xjg5z6ix2i8k987pb77i9p-libxdamage-1.1.5        81.3     
0.0   0.0%
/gnu/store/yilf64y14qciml3kkj3506i3n2gmaawb-libxau-1.0.10           75.3     
0.0   0.0%
/gnu/store/b9b2vd3r07lvhiih6ddrw95p9pk9lpvh-libxshmfence-1.3        75.3     
0.0   0.0%
/gnu/store/l6fpy0i9hlll9b6k8vy2i2a4cshwz3cv-python-wrapper-3.10.7   232.5     
0.0   0.0%
total: 1058.9 MiB
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

However, these items are shared:

        $ guix size xdot | grep 'total:'
        total: 1058.9 MiB
        $ guix size raptor2 | grep 'total:'
        total: 209.2 MiB
        $ guix size xdot raptor2 | grep 'total:'
        total: 1149.2 MiB

As you see, 1149.2 is less than 1268.1 (1058.9+209.2).


> On a debian based server system which has no graphics installed:
>
> $ apt-get install xdot
> 3 upgraded, 89 newly installed, 0 to remove and 246 not upgraded.
> Need to get 17.6 MB of archives.
> After this operation, 82.4 MB of additional disk space will be used.

Here, you are comparing apple to orange. :-)

The ’xdot’ package from guix requires 135 items.

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ guix size xdot | grep -v 'total:' | grep -v '^store' | wc -l
135
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Well, consider that the bigger of these 46 dependencies are already
installed on your system.  It means 89 packages are missing; the total
size would be:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ guix size xdot --sort=self             \
   | grep -v 'total:' | grep -v '^store' \
   | tail -89                            \
   | tr -s ' ' ':' | cut -f3 -d':' | paste -s -d+ | bc
75.6
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Do not take me wrong.  The Guix packages are known to be heavier.  The
point is that it is difficult to compare the number you provided.

For I agree that the situation is not satisfactory.  Especially when
using a low-speed network connection.

And indeed, there is something unexpected with ghostscript-with-cups.

> substitute: updating substitutes from 'https://ci.guix.gnu.org'... 100.0%
[...]
> ghostscript-9.56.1  11.4MiB
>
> substitute: updating substitutes from 'https://ci.guix.gnu.org'... 100.0%
[...]
> ghostscript-with-cups-9.56.1  11.5MiB

> substitute: updating substitutes from 'https://ci.guix.gnu.org'... 100.0%
[...]
> ghostscript-with-cups-9.56.1  11.5MiB

It appears once in the closure by it is download twice, and ghostscript
once although it is not listed by “guix size”.  Hum?!

Maybe it is related by the grafts mechanism.  I do not know.


Cheers,
simon