Saving Space mini-HOWTO : A Real Life Example

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## 4. A Real Life Example

This is what I got applying the above procedure to one of my machines. Before the treatment, `df` reported I used 398,798 1024--blocks:

- I didn't remove the kernel sources and the kernel headers;
- I uninstalled several applications and all of the games, but I left X11, X11 development, C and Fortran development, Tcl/Tk, networking tools, and a few other standard applications. `df` reported 244,668 used blocks;
- I ran `upx` on /usr/bin, /usr/X11R6/bin, /usr/lib/texmf/bin/i586-linux, and /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i386-linux/2.7.2.1. 226,270 used blocks;
- I compressed the documentation under /usr/doc and /usr/lib/texmf/texmf/doc: 198,745 used blocks.

To sum up, I started with 398,798 blocks and finished with 198,745. Think of the stuff you can shove in those 200,000 spared blocks! I would have saved even more if I had used `bzip2` instead of `gzip`.

On average, if you are careful from the beginning and install only the necessary applications, compressing executables and documents will save you some 20 Mb. On a notebook, this can be a lifesaver.

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