Jeremy, there are duplicate firmware files. Replacing duplicates with symlinks is probably the easiest and most efficient way to improve the situation.
With "jdupes -rl", "tar c /lib/firmware | zstd -1" drops from 428MB to 411MB. The effect on initrds is maybe slightly lower iirc but it's still noticeable and it should be very easy and safe for us.
I can't tell exactly how many more people will be able to boot with that change but I think the cost is small enough that it's worth trying. Worst case, every kernel update is faster.
Jeremy, there are duplicate firmware files. Replacing duplicates with symlinks is probably the easiest and most efficient way to improve the situation.
I get the following:
> % jdupes -mrS /lib/firmware
> Scanning: 2830 files, 286 items (in 1 specified)
> 405 duplicate files (in 212 sets), occupying 37 MB
With "jdupes -rl", "tar c /lib/firmware | zstd -1" drops from 428MB to 411MB. The effect on initrds is maybe slightly lower iirc but it's still noticeable and it should be very easy and safe for us.
I can't tell exactly how many more people will be able to boot with that change but I think the cost is small enough that it's worth trying. Worst case, every kernel update is faster.