Bloat Audit — racked.ru launcher

Date: 2026-04-30 Total runtime size: ~1.3 GB (launcher/) Goal: identify what's strippable without breaking "load Minecraft reliably"

TL;DR

Category	Size	Strippable?
Mojang game assets (`assets/`)	552M	No — needed by MC
Bundled Java 21 (`java/jdk-21.0.9+10/`)	346M	No, but see below
Java tar.gz leftover (`java/java21.tar.gz`)	198M	YES — instant win
MC libraries (`libraries/`)	99M	No
User instance (`instances/Fabulously Optimized/`)	88M	No (user data)
Launcher binary (`bin/prismlauncher`)	15M	Partial (strip + LTO)
Cache (`cache/`)	5.5M	Yes (regenerated)
Translations	692K	Mostly (see below)
Misc state (logs, metacache, sync-conflicts)	~1M	Yes

Quick wins: ~200 MB instantly (java tar.gz + sync conflicts + cache).

Runtime layout (`launcher/`)

552M  assets/         Mojang resources — textures, sounds. Lookup by hash. KEEP.
543M  java/
       198M  java21.tar.gz       ← extracted already, DELETE
       346M  jdk-21.0.9+10/      runtime, KEEP (or move outside launcher)
 99M  libraries/      MC + Fabric + Forge libs, on-demand cache. KEEP.
 88M  instances/      user world + modpack. SACRED.
 15M  bin/prismlauncher           main binary
 5.5M cache/          HTTP/asset cache, REGENERATES. delete-safe.
 692K translations/
       319K mmc_en_GB.qm                   keep
       316K mmc_en_GB.sync-conflict...qm   ← Syncthing leftover, DELETE
        26K index_v2.json                   keep
        26K index_v2.sync-conflict...json   ← DELETE
 196K images/         backgrounds (cat). Strip if no cat wanted.
  56K share/
  40K metacache/
  12K icons/
   0  themes/ iconthemes/ catpacks/        empty

Immediate deletes (safe, ~200M):

cd launcher/
rm java/java21.tar.gz                                     # 198M
rm translations/*.sync-conflict-*                         # 316K + 26K
rm prismlauncher.sync-conflict-*.cfg metacache.sync-conflict-* 2>/dev/null
rm -rf cache/*                                            # 5.5M (regens)

Optional moves:

Java outside launcher folder — if portability not strictly USB-required, point JavaPath at a system Java 21 install. Saves 346M from the launcher tree. Already configured in prismlauncher.cfg:JavaPath.

Source bloat (`source/`, ~13M)

Compile-time only. Trimming reduces binary size + build time.

Icon themes — biggest source bloat (~5.5M)

source/launcher/resources/ contains 17 icon theme dirs:

Theme	Size	Used?
`multimc/`	3.0M	No (legacy)
`backgrounds/`	1.4M	Cat backgrounds
`sources/`	400K	SVG masters
`flat_white/`	208K	YES (default)
`flat/`	208K	No
`breeze_light/` `breeze_dark/`	408K	No
`pe_light/dark/colored/blue/`	752K	No
`iOS/` `OSX/`	324K	No
`racked_ru/`	12K	YES (custom)
`shaders/` `assets/` `documents/`	36K	Various

Strippable: all except flat_white/, racked_ru/, sources/, assets/, shaders/. Saves ~5M from binary qrc.

Mod platforms (`source/launcher/modplatform/`, 564K)

Platform	Size	Modern?
`flame/` (CurseForge)	124K	Yes
`modrinth/`	92K	Yes
`atlauncher/`	80K	Niche
`technic/`	52K	Dying
`legacy_ftb/`	36K	Dead
`ftb/`	32K	Use modrinth instead
`import_ftb/`	24K	Pair w/ ftb
`packwiz/`	20K	Niche

Recommended keep: flame/, modrinth/, helpers, generic. Strippable: atlauncher + technic + legacy_ftb + ftb + import_ftb + packwiz = ~244K source, ~1-2M off binary after compile.

News system

Already audited (NETWORK_AUDIT.md). News fetches RSS from prismlauncher.org on every startup. Strippable:

source/launcher/news/ — NewsChecker.cpp/h, NewsEntry.cpp/h
source/launcher/ui/dialogs/NewsDialog.{cpp,h,ui}
News toolbar button in MainWindow.ui
news.svg icons across themes

Saves: ~30K source, removes 1 outbound network call on startup, removes "News" toolbar button.

Other strip candidates

Component	Source size	Worth stripping?
`tests/`	928K	Already excluded from runtime build — leave for dev, or `rm -rf` if no tests run
`nix/` + `flake.*`	28K	If not building via Nix, delete
`.github/`	136K	Workflows for upstream CI, drop in fork
`program_info/` translations of metainfo	888K	Bulk is icons (.icns/.ico/.png), required for OS integration
`libraries/` (vendored quazip, tomlplusplus, etc.)	648K	Required, system libs an option but fragile
Setup wizard (`launcher/ui/setupwizard/`)	68K	First-run only — keep
Screenshots gallery (`launcher/ui/screenshots`?)	24K	Niche

Stripped binary

bin/prismlauncher 15M. Likely already release-built. Confirm:

file bin/prismlauncher        # should say "stripped"
strip --strip-all bin/prismlauncher 2>/dev/null   # idempotent

If unstripped, can drop several MB.

LTO + -Os at CMake configure: -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=MinSizeRel -DCMAKE_INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION=ON — typically 10–20% binary shrink.

Reliability cost of each strip

Strip	Reliability impact
Delete java tar.gz	Zero — already extracted
Delete sync-conflicts	Zero
Delete cache/	Zero — regenerates on first launch
Drop unused icon themes	Zero — user can't pick them anyway
Drop FTB/Technic/ATLauncher modplatforms	Zero if user only uses CurseForge/Modrinth
Disable news	Zero — purely informational, also removes online startup hit
Move bundled Java to system Java	Low — if system Java 21 missing, breaks. Keep bundled for portability
Strip backgrounds	Zero — cat purely cosmetic
Drop multimc/ icon theme	Zero — legacy default replaced by flat_white

None of the proposed strips touch MC launching, auth, asset download, mod loading, or world saves.

Recommended action plan (ordered by ROI)

Now (~200M, zero risk): delete java/java21.tar.gz, sync-conflict files, cache/*
Source trim, next rebuild: drop 12 unused icon themes, FTB/Technic/ATLauncher modplatforms, news system
Build flags: MinSizeRel + LTO + strip --strip-all
Optional: move Java out of launcher/ if portability not required

Estimated final size after all: ~700 MB (down from 1.3 GB). Most remaining is non-strippable (Mojang assets, MC libs, user instance, Java).

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