[deanhills]

- rant coming -

Why are all software updates ADDING MB only, and not deleting MB that are no longer needed? Like isn't that a weakness of the software in its own right and counter productive? Maybe even a security risk?

How this rant came about is that I've just updated a tiny blog from WordPress 5.6 to WordPress 5.7 and that added approx 4 MB of space, without me making any changes to the blog. Just pure "script udpate"!

Worst in my experience are Anti-Virus software like Kaspersky. When I first started using Kaspersky a few years back, it was lean and mean and totally great for any of my hardware. Nowadays it's heavy, bloated, and with every new release even Gigabytes in difference. To the extent I had to remove it from my laptop, as it was weighing the system down. I could hardly move with it.

Ditto Windows 10. Why can't there be subtraction of software data that is no longer required happen at the same time when it is "updated". Like only data are added, never subtracted.

Surely when one gets an update or upgrade (particularly when you're paying for it too), then obsolete data should be removed? The aim should be to keep the software as lean as possible? Or am I missing something here?

Ditto OS! The higher the release number, the more bloated the OS gets. I look at CentOS few years ago when it was lean. Now it's super heavy in comparison.

[tbelldesignco]

I just noticed this with Wordpress too, I really am trying to figure this out myself. If there are security vulnerabilities then we need to take that code way instead of pasting a "fix" over the top of it and hoping for the best. iOS acts very similarly where instead of removing code, Apple will often just consume the storage you have while giving you updates that could remove excess code and provide a smaller more manageable package.

[tryp4vps]

...... The aim should be to keep the software as lean as possible? Or am I missing something here?

Good question Dean.

The programmers write the software, and then do the bug fixes on top of the original version, and then get paid.

So I am afraid almost no programmers would aim at keeping the software as lean as possible.

And sadly they just do not care about your disk space at all.

[fChk]

Why are all software updates ADDING MB only, and not deleting MB that are no longer needed?  Like isn't that a weakness of the software in its own right and counter productive?  Maybe even a security risk?

The short answer for the ever increasing size of software in general, be it an OS, a browser, a CMS etc... is the ever increase in software complexity..

From my own experience in coding Web Application of various projects, the initial versions are always humble features-wise and extending in few thousands of lines of code. The more features we cram into them be it in functionalities or in design, the more larger and larger they get, hence the more lines of code you add (ie the more kb they compile.)

It's true that the larger a program is, the more complex it gets (for debugging and maintaining) and the more susceptible to vulnerabilities it becomes. This is why programmers always try to 'put their programs through a diet' everytime they add a wave of features into it (ie become larger), a process that they call optimization and code housekeeping that tries to eliminate all the deprecated features (/portions of code) while optimizing the rest. This process always results in the program 'loosing some weight'. If you don't see that too often, it should be because the newly added features obscure/compensate the removed parts of it.

It's the same process that goes into the Operating systems area too. New features added compensating for the deprecated ones that are removed. The only difference is that an OS needs drivers to function and to my mind if there is one database that keeps getting bigger each and every year it's the drivers database (the one that comes with the Linux kernel or the M$$'s Windows.) Hence the ever increasing size!..

This is why I don't necessarily agree that we can systematically associate the bigger size in software with bloat; yes, it can be that in some cases but it's not necessarily the case in all, as explained above; ie it's just an increase in software complexity..

[mzltest]

Agreed - Especially these new features are compeletely useless but you just can't choose not to install.And sometimes you are forced to update - they dont care what version you are using,they just want you to use newest version.In your area,with the protect of Google Play or something,these measures are not usually taken but here that measure is common(together with hot auto update )