optimized-binaries

🚀 Releases of optimized binaries pruned from upstream sources

This project solves the problem of large, bloated binary distributions by extracting and repacking only the specific binaries you need. Instead of downloading massive archives (often 100MB+) that contain entire toolchains, get just the binary you want in a compact package.

🎯 Problem Solved

When you need tools like clang-format, you typically have to download huge archives like:

• clang+llvm-16.0.0-arm64-apple-darwin22.0.tar.xz (187MB) → Just need clang-format (2.1MB)
• clang+llvm-16.0.0-x86_64-linux-gnu-ubuntu-18.04.tar.xz (215MB) → Just need clang-format (2.8MB)

This project automatically downloads, extracts, and repacks just the binaries you need.

🏗️ Project Structure

├── config.json              # Configuration for binaries to optimize
├── optimize-binaries.sh      # Main optimization script
├── test-local.sh            # Local testing script
├── .github/workflows/
│   └── optimize-binaries.yml # GitHub Actions for automated releases
└── README.md                # This file

⚙️ Configuration

Edit config.json to define which binaries to optimize:

{
  "clang-format": {
    "version": "16.0.0",
    "binaries": [
      {
        "kind": "archive",
        "url": "https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/releases/download/llvmorg-16.0.0/clang+llvm-16.0.0-arm64-apple-darwin22.0.tar.xz",
        "sha256": "2041587b90626a4a87f0de14a5842c14c6c3374f42c8ed12726ef017416409d9",
        "file": "clang+llvm-16.0.0-arm64-apple-darwin22.0/bin/clang-format",
        "os": "macos",
        "cpu": "arm64",
        "platform": "macos-arm64"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Configuration Fields

• version: Tool version (used in output filename)
• url: Download URL for the source archive
• sha256: SHA256 checksum for verification
• file: Path to the binary within the archive
• platform: Platform identifier (used in output filename: tool-version-platform.tar.gz)

🚀 Usage

Local Usage

1. Install dependencies:

   # Ubuntu/Debian
   sudo apt-get install curl jq xz-utils
   
   # macOS  
   brew install jq xz

2. Run optimization:

   ./optimize-binaries.sh

3. Test locally (optional):

   ./test-local.sh

GitHub Actions (Automated Releases)

The project includes automated GitHub Actions that will:

1. Trigger on:

   • Manual workflow dispatch
   • Git tags matching clang-format-* or v*

2. Output:

   • GitHub release with optimized binaries
   • Artifacts for workflow runs
   • Files named: clang-format-<version>-<platform>.tar.gz

3. Manual trigger:

   • Go to Actions → "Optimize Binaries" → "Run workflow"
   • Optionally specify custom config file and tag name

📦 Output

The script generates optimized archives named:

clang-format-16.0.0-macos-arm64.tar.gz
clang-format-16.0.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

Each archive contains just the binary, typically achieving 90%+ size reduction.

💡 Advanced Usage

Environment Variables

• KEEP_ARCHIVES=true - Keep original downloaded archives (default: false)

Custom Configuration

./optimize-binaries.sh my-custom-config.json

Multiple Tools

You can configure multiple tools in the same config file:

{
  "clang-format": { ... },
  "some-other-tool": { ... }
}

🔧 Requirements

• bash 4.0+
• curl - For downloading files
• jq - For JSON parsing
• tar - For archive extraction/creation
• xz - For .xz archive support
• sha256sum (Linux) or shasum (macOS) - For checksum verification

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Add your binary configuration to config.json
3. Test locally with ./test-local.sh
4. Submit a pull request

📄 License

This project is released into the public domain. The optimized binaries retain their original licenses from upstream sources.

❓ FAQ

Q: Why not use package managers? A: Package managers are great, but sometimes you need specific versions, cross-platform consistency, or want to avoid system dependencies.

Q: Are the checksums verified? A: Yes! The script verifies SHA256 checksums before processing archives.

Q: Can I add other tools besides clang-format? A: Absolutely! Just add them to config.json following the same structure.