Binary diff package system?

[gilesjuk]

If Gentoo want to supply binaries at a later stage why not first create a base set of packages for the minimum supported CPU, then create packages for all the other CPU types. But instead of supplying all these other packages, supply a binary diff (delta) against the base packages.

Would these deltas be much smaller or am I hoping for too much? it is just a mad idea that leapt into my mind

I can't see why this isn't done for all distros, ie. an author of an application provides binaries and each distro provides a patch. This is one way of solving the need to download and compile source, something that hold back wider Linux usage IMHO.
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G. Jones
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[gilesjuk]

Biiiiiiig silence, it's either such a bad idea that nobody cares or a good one that someone has stolen and will make millions from.

Anyway, it's a silly time so I'm off to bed
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G. Jones
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[Ari Rahikkala]

As far as I know, the difference betweem two binaries compiled for different architectures tends to be of the sort that's very hard to make small diffs for - pervasive instruction order changes, some specialised instructions here and there, and only some rare pieces that are similar on different architectures. This is the popular perception, anyway - I have never actually tested if it is true. Now, with a really sophisticated differ, it might be possible to make deltas for binaries compiled with different support options (USE flags in Gentoo lingo) that are smaller than the binaries themselves, but I'd doubt even the feasibility of that. Still, I've never actually compiled a program with different optimization or linking arguments and checked how big the diffs between the binaries are, so I can't be sure if I'm right or wrong.
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<laurentius> gentoo linux?
<ari> Yesh.
<laurentius> they look horny

[gilesjuk]

Well it would require a smart diff tool yes. I think it would need to deal with binaries on the subroutine level.
_________________
^<^>^<^>^
G. Jones
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