release article for nim 1.6.0

[timotheecour]

notes for obtaining the stats:

• nb of packages:

git clone https://github.com/nim-lang/packages
cd packages
jq '. | length' packages.json
1732

then do same as of the time of 1.4 release (16 October 2020) and subtract from that

nim --eval:'echo 1732-1452'
280

• nb of commits since 1.4 release (f8890a0):

git rev-list f8890a0^..HEAD | wc -l
    1760

• PRs merged: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Anim-lang%2Fnim+closed%3A%3E2020-10-16+is%3Apr+is%3Amerged&type=Issues
  query: repo:nim-lang/nim closed:>2020-10-16 is:pr is:merged
• issues closed: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Anim-lang%2Fnim+closed%3A%3E2020-10-16+is%3Aissue&type=Issues
  query: repo:nim-lang/nim closed:>2020-10-16 is:issue

links

• https://forum.nim-lang.org/t/8297
• https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/

[quantimnot]

Here are some minor changes. I was attempting to make everything a little more consistent.

[ee7]

Some nitpicks.

[ee7]

Suggested change

	* [1] command used: `nim c -o:/tmp/main -d:danger --eval:'echo "hello world"'`
	* [1] command used: `nim c -o:/tmp/main -d:danger --eval:'echo "hello world"'`.
	Note that the Nim result is without optimizing for size (via `--opt:size`), without stripping (`--passL:-s`), and without using full link-time optimization (`--passC:-flto`).
	It's also fairly straightforward to create a statically linked 5 kB "hello world" binary via musl, and you can get down to ~150 bytes with some extra tricks.

I think it's worth adding a couple of sentences here, as binary size is often a focus in reddit/HN comment threads. Feel free to adapt.

I've avoided -d:strip and -d:lto here, as they don't currently work reliably on every platform IIRC (macOS?).

For the "5 kB hello world binary": see e.g. https://irclogs.nim-lang.org/07-07-2020.html#12:31:34

[timotheecour]

@ee7 see commit update "small binaries" section ;

I didnt' mention and you can get down to ~150 bytes with some extra tricks. as I don't see where are those extra tricks mentioned; in particular https://irclogs.nim-lang.org/07-07-2020.html#12:31:34 mentions:

and if I disregard echo and use c_printf from system/ansi_c it's 5112 bytes

do you have more detail?

@Yardanico can you please confirm the 5K numbers for static linking with musl? on osx (without musl) i get the quoted 49K

[ghost]

Sure, I'll check those numbers on Linux and Windows again to see how small will it be

[ghost]

@timotheecour it's better to discuss this matter in real-time chats I think, but here are the results for the Zig 0.8.1 released from Arch Linux repos + Nim 1.5.1 (6bb32da4aecbe80a9cc0cce90322c0e741ee8b85):
Nim source file:

echo "Hello, World!"

Compilation process:

$ nim c --os:any -d:posix -d:noSignalHandler --cc:clang --clang.exe="zigcc.sh" --clang.linkerexe="zigcc.sh" -d:danger --gc:arc -d:useMalloc --panics:on --passL:"-target x86_64-linux-musl -flto" --opt:size hello.nim
Hint: used config file '/home/dian/nim/config/nim.cfg' [Conf]
Hint: used config file '/home/dian/nim/config/config.nims' [Conf]
...................................................
Hint:  [Link]
Hint: gc: arc; opt: size; options: -d:danger
23293 lines; 0.350s; 25.414MiB peakmem; proj: /home/dian/test_bin_size/hello.nim; out: /home/dian/test_bin_size/hello [SuccessX]

$ strip -s -R .comment -R .note -R .note.ABI-tag hello

$ wc hello
  14  166 7296 hello

$ file hello
hello: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, stripped

Result - a fully static binary with the size of 7296 bytes.

zigcc.sh is a shell script with the contents:

#!/usr/bin/env sh
zig cc $@

It's needed because Nim expects a name of the compiler binary and doesn't accept commands with spaces like zig cc.

I've also done a couple of tests with a few musl gcc toolchains, but the binary size with them is around 13KB even after stripping.

P.S.: Not sure if we should really specify the whole process for building a small binary, it'll be quite cumbersome to follow.

[ghost]

Without the --os:any -d:posix trickery the file size is 16976 bytes (for a Linux binary)

[ee7]

Result - a fully static binary with the size of 7296 bytes.

@Yardanico I get 4848 bytes for a echo "Hello, World! binary on a similar setup (x86_64; Arch Linux; Nim 1.5.1 recent commit; Zig 0.8.1).

It looks like you forgot this option: --passC:'-flto -target x86_64-linux-musl'.

The same thing, as a script:

#!/usr/bin/env sh
set -e
path_bin='./hello'

# Create source file
path_src="${path_bin}.nim"
rm -f "${path_src}"
echo 'echo "Hello, World!"' > "${path_src}"

# Compile
nim c -f \
  -d:danger --opt:size --gc:arc --panics:on \
  -d:useMalloc --os:any -d:posix -d:noSignalHandler \
  --cc=clang --clang.exe='zigcc.sh' --clang.linkerexe='zigcc.sh' \
  --passC:'-flto -target x86_64-linux-musl' \
  --passL:'-flto -target x86_64-linux-musl' \
  --skipUserCfg --skipParentCfg --skipProjCfg \
  "${path_bin}"

# Strip
strip --strip-all --remove-section=.comment "${path_bin}"

# Print some information about the binary
printf "\n"
file "${path_bin}"
byte_count="$(wc --bytes ${path_bin} | cut -d' ' -f1)"
echo "${byte_count} bytes"

# Show that the executable actually works
printf "\nRunning executable...\n"
"${path_bin}"

./hello: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, stripped
4848 bytes

Running executable...
Hello, World!

[narimiran]

Please move any further discussion and suggestions/improvements to #302, which has the updated version of this article.

[timotheecour]

why move this to a different PR?

[narimiran]

why move this to a different PR?

1. It didn't feel right to push this big of a change to your branch.
2. The diff would be useless (line reformatting, etc.).
3. It is very hard to follow the discussion here — I get a notification of some new activity, but when I click it, it doesn't point to the new activity, I have to manually search what's new.
4. If I try to expand any of the hidden stuff, my browser eats my CPU.

(@Yardanico raised similar concerns on Discord)

---

Once we have a final version, if you want, you can use that one and open a new PR, so it is correctly contributed to you.

[Araq]

Reopening so that we can discuss how to proceed here but there were no malicious intentions.