Tod Kurt (todbot)
Dangit I think I might need to actually learn Rust. In Electron, a minimal app to control blink(1)s weighs in at 285 MB on disk. An equivalent Tauri Rust app is 5.5 MB!
https://github.com/todbot/electron-blink1-toy/
https://github.com/todbot/tauri-blink1-toy/
Apr 6 at 6:51pmMona for Mac
Show threadJason Coon3d ago
@todbot could it be done as a regular web app? If not, I've used Bun to create simple web apps that need to run CLI commands. This one, for example, compiles to ~64 MB: https://github.com/jasoncoon/mac-power
Show threadJason Coon3d ago
@todbot Bun can compile to Linux, macOS, and Windows, all arm64 & x64: https://bun.com/docs/bundler/executables
They're working on making the compiled executable files even smaller.
Single-file executable - Bun

Generate standalone executables from TypeScript or JavaScript files with Bun

Bun
Show threadTod Kurt (todbot)3d ago
@jasoncoon Interesting! I’ll look into it, thanks! The actual app I’m targeting makes use of many OS-level features (custom menus, taskbar icons, etc) and has background services to deal with network events. But if I can do that in Bun, I’d be stoked. Rust is cool but a big lift for my brain. I don’t like Javascript but at least I understand it
Show threadJason Coon3d ago
@todbot I haven't tried it yet, but this might be another option: https://blackboard.sh/electrobun/docs
Electrobun Documentation - Build ultra fast, tiny, cross-platform desktop apps

Complete documentation for Electrobun - build ultra fast, tiny, cross-platform desktop applications with TypeScript.

Show threadTod Kurt (todbot)3d ago
@jasoncoon Just spent some time porting my little toy app to electrobun. It’s kind of scam for my needs. The build result has a small download size (18 MB), but which turns into 74 MB on first run, with another 84 MB hiding in “~/Library/Application Support”. So the resulting 155 MB is around the same as an Electron app. But with a lot more hassle because you cannot use native Node modules. I’ll be interested to see how it evolves.
Show threadJason Coon3d ago
@todbot oh interesting. Do you know if that's using the default system webview, or with CEF bundled?
Show threadTod Kurt (todbot)3d ago
@jasoncoon looks like it’s using WebKit (I’m testing on Mac) so I’m not sure why it needs so much. Tauri/Rust is definitely still the winner in true small app size since it does use the native OS’s webview
Show threadSimen E. Sørensen2d ago

@todbot @jasoncoon fwiw I can really recommend the Tauri framework, I found it amazing how easy it was to bundle and ship a signed desktop app compared to doing it manually.

Doesn’t really fix the “need to learn Rust” problem, but I can at least vouch for an impressive and pleasant experience along the way from the framework side of things :)

(I’ve been using Tauri professionally/at work for about a year)

Show threadPaul Stoffregen3d ago

@todbot If you're already good with C++, maybe consider wxWidgets?

While a bit more than a blink example, this little program I wrote a couple years ago weighs in at 6.5MB for a static linked Windows app. Linux build is smaller, and MacOS larger but due to universal binary (both ARM64 & X86-64).

https://github.com/PaulStoffregen/Phazerville-Screen-Capture

Great thing about wxWidgets is you get a native GUI app on all 3 systems. It's the GUI toolkit KiCAD uses. If you know and like C++, wxWidgets is really worthwhile.

GitHub - PaulStoffregen/Phazerville-Screen-Capture

Contribute to PaulStoffregen/Phazerville-Screen-Capture development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadTod Kurt (todbot)3d ago
@PaulStoffregen oh wow, I used wxWidgets a *long* time ago! I know Arduino/embedded C++ and the more “real” C++ stuff is just too out there for me. Glad to see it’s still around tho! I remember liking it better than Qt (which I ended up using for a huge app for other reasons)
Show threadPaul Stoffregen3d ago

@todbot wxWidgets isn't the simplest, but with it's relatively new Bind() function building a small GUI takes relatively little code. You can see that little app has under 200 lines for the GUI, but manages to implement a window with a few small menus, graphical copy & paste, and ~30Hz screen update from a USB device.

Huge advantage of C++ is you get best access native OS APIs. If you look at usb.c in my app, it has native WIN32, Linux udev, and MacOS IOKit to discover and use USB devices.

Show threadrrmutt3d ago
@todbot @PaulStoffregen WxPython is worth a look: cross platform, you can make an .exe with PyInstaller.
Show threadsynlogic42423d ago
@todbot 1.2 mb helloworld for Golang. add CLI to control USB blink might not add much. plus GUIs are antipatterns lol