Slim binaries?
Do you think in the near term we will have the ability to install just the Intel-only version of apps without having to also include the PowerPC code with the install? These apps have gotten meatier with the fat binaries, and it would be nice to have a slim app that doesn't take up as much hard drive space. Comments?
Comments
You can accomplish that with apps like Monolingual.
But it's probably not worth it, or a good idea. Firstly, universal executables are only a small part of an app's size. iMovie HD on my MBP has 11MB of UB executables, of which you might save 60%. The total iMovie HD.app bundle weighs in at 82MB. Secondly, stripping away with Monolingual will break Rosetta, as you tidily remove the PPC code from all the shared libraries. I reckon a brand new OOB mac has around 15 GB of stuff preinstalled, and you'd not save more that maybe 600MB. In the era of 750GB drives, there's no benefit.
Do you think in the near term we will have the ability to install just the Intel-only version of apps without having to also include the PowerPC code with the install? These apps have gotten meatier with the fat binaries, and it would be nice to have a slim app that doesn't take up as much hard drive space. Comments?
You'll get it eventually, but not for a few years. The same thing happened with the switch to PowerPC chips. Most apps were either dual-released, or released as Fat Binaries. It wasn't for several years that companies started only releasing PPC binaries.
Give it two or three years for the market to grow and intel-only binaries will become more common.