Why Did Omarchy Shrink Its Install Image?

David Heinemeier Hansson cut the Omarchy install image from 7.5 gigabytes to about 5.85 gigabytes. Most of the install time is decompressing the compressed packages on the image, so the smaller size showed up almost one-to-one in how long setup takes.

The JetBrains font package on Arch is 200 megabytes because it includes every variation. Omarchy uses the monospace version in one nerd-font patched edition, about 16 megabytes, so a slim package saved 180 megabytes. He did the same kind of trim to the NVIDIA drivers. Coming straight off the Arch repo, they were not using the strongest compression, ZSTD, which is slow to create and worth it when the image gets smaller.

He compares the obsession to McLaren, which makes some of the lightest super sports cars and shaves grams on purpose. A new 750S is much lighter than the competition, helped by a carbon-fiber monocoque where Ferrari uses aluminum. McLaren people have described saving 370 grams on a car that weighs maybe 1,040 kilos, or 1,380. Shaving megabytes off packages felt like the same kind of mania. The image could still shrink further.