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advdef ver.2.1 versus 7z ver.26

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nick65go:

--- Quote from: Paul_123 on March 13, 2026, 04:34:12 PM ---1 . One of your stated goals was trying to exactly produce the distributed initrd.gz file, which I was trying to help you understand was impossible.
2. If your definition of better is the compressed size of the initrd, then why not use xz or zstd to compress the image.
3. If your definition of better is boot time, did you try a uncompressed initrd, or just a gzip -1 compressed file.

--- End quote ---
1. I try to understand first, then maybe to improve TC17. There are NO clear instructions how to reproduce rootfs.gz. If it can not be reproduced then so be it. Survive but not happy.
2. I try to use tools from TC17 to re-build TC17 (learning it). Maybe re-master it to boot in 40 MB RAM just for fun. The smaller is + on demand then the better, for me. Or else there are TC3,x until TC10, plenty to choose from. My current linux has XZ in kernel + packages (is Archlinux derivative named CachyOS x86-64-v3).
3. Boot time is secondary, 3-5 seconds wasted to boot did not matter in a full day.
PS: I assume you understand that all is play/ fun, pushing the limits. Someone can grab a linux (Fedora, OpenSuse, Debian, Ubuntu, whatever) in minutes! and install it also in few minutes with default settings. And a PC (even a Chrome OS) someone can buy new (lasting 3-8 years), with money earned from few days of work (I hope) ...

Paul_123:
I know its for fun..  So I'll play the game with you

This is a different rootfs than you, but the results you can see.

--- Code: ----rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul 12633088 Mar 13 19:46 rootfs-piCore64-17.0.uncompressed
-rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul  4466798 Mar 13 19:42 rootfs-piCore64-17.0.gzip9
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  4246873 Mar 13 19:49 rootfs-piCore64-17.0.gz.advdevz4
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  4235095 Mar 13 19:50 rootfs-piCore64-17.0.gz.7zmx9
-rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul  4206895 Mar 13 19:42 rootfs-piCore64-17.0.pigz.zopfli.noiterations
-rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul  4205410 Mar 13 19:42 rootfs-piCore64-17.0.pigz.zopfli.I100
-rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul  4006378 Mar 13 19:42 rootfs-piCore64-17.0.zst-10
-rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul  3458360 Mar 13 19:42 rootfs-piCore64-17.0.zst-19
-rw-r--r-- 1 paul paul  3030460 Mar 13 19:42 rootfs-piCore64-17.0.xz-6

--- End code ---

decompression

--- Code: ---gzip9:   mesreal 0m0.078s
advdef:      real 0m0.075s
7zmx9:      real 0m0.085s
pigzzopfli:  real 0m0.075s
pigzzopfli100: real 0m0.091s
zstd-10:     real 0m0.035s
zstd-19:     real 0m0.028s
xz:             real 0m0.154s
--- End code ---

So XZ gets it the smallest, but does take more to decompress it.  zstd is probably the winner.   But lets see.

This is the boot of a Raspi5,

I pulled some relevant lines from dmesg.
this rootfs was produced with pigz

--- Code: ---[    0.031569] Trying to unpack rootfs image as initramfs...
[    0.102147] Freeing initrd memory: 5664K
[    0.630088] Run /init as init process

--- End code ---

This is the zstd compressed rootfs

--- Code: ---[    0.038710] Trying to unpack rootfs image as initramfs...
[    0.080141] Freeing initrd memory: 5424K
[    0.633339] Run /init as init process

--- End code ---


hmmmm, I might switch piCore to zstd.  Need to do more testing.

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