How to minimize installed files and dependencies when installing in docker?

[raakasf]

Additional Info

• I am using Windows Subsystem for Linux

Output of brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.0.21-10-g83db703
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 83db7039efd74f9ae8f6ecdcdebf671c09941bb8
Last commit: 8 weeks ago
Core tap origin: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core
Core tap HEAD: 19eaf9a7acc4aa179f685c221a83409d1f4e2901
Core tap last commit: 8 weeks ago
Core tap branch: master
Core tap JSON: 07 Jun 13:49 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew
HOMEBREW_BROWSER: /vscode/vscode-server/bin/linux-x64/2ccd690cbff1569e4a83d7c43d45101f817401dc/bin/helpers/browser.sh
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_DISPLAY: :7
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 4
HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS: set
HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API: set
Homebrew Ruby: 2.6.10 => /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/2.6.10_1/bin/ruby
CPU: quad-core 64-bit broadwell
Clang: N/A
Git: 2.37.3 => /bin/git
Curl: 7.85.0 => /bin/curl
Kernel: Linux 5.15.0-75-generic x86_64 GNU/Linux
OS: CentOS Linux release 7.9.2009 (Core) (Core)
Host glibc: 2.17
/usr/bin/gcc: 4.8.5
/usr/bin/ruby: N/A
glibc: 2.35_1
gcc@11: N/A
gcc: 13.1.0
xorg: N/A

Output of brew doctor

Please note that these warnings are just used to help the Homebrew maintainers
with debugging if you file an issue. If everything you use Homebrew for is
working fine: please don't worry or file an issue; just ignore this. Thanks!

Warning: Unbrewed header files were found in /usr/local/include.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae, and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected header files:
  /usr/local/include/curl/curl.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/curlver.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/easy.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/header.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/mprintf.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/multi.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/options.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/stdcheaders.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/system.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/typecheck-gcc.h
  /usr/local/include/curl/urlapi.h

Warning: Unbrewed '.la' files were found in /usr/local/lib.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae, and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected '.la' files:
  /usr/local/lib/libcurl.la

Warning: Unbrewed '.pc' files were found in /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae, and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected '.pc' files:
  /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/libcurl.pc

Warning: Unbrewed static libraries were found in /usr/local/lib.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae, and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected static libraries:
  /usr/local/lib/libcurl.a

Warning: Homebrew's "sbin" was not found in your PATH but you have installed
formulae that put executables in /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/sbin.
Consider setting your PATH for example like so:
  echo 'export PATH="/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/sbin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc

Description of issue

When I install the following packages through a Dockerfile the image size increase by 4 GB as it install gcc and a lot of other packages. I'm wondering if there's a better way to install these dependencies. Maybe use their docker images in stages?

RUN brew install chezmoi fd docker docker-compose clang-format awscli gh

[SMillerDev]

Minimising the install footprint is not a goal for brew, the only thing you could change is that newer OS versions generally don't need to pull in GCC.

[raakasf]

I understand that @SMillerDev I have updated this discussion to more of a question. I am wondering, after I have installed formulas in docker, what all can I nuke from the /home/linuxbrew directory so that I can minimize the size of container. I don't mind if I can't update or if brew stops working after that (maybe I can fix it after the container is running) as long as the formulas keeps working. Thanks for your help!

[SMillerDev]

You could remove the tool brew, but that will save you 92MB judging by the size on my machine.

[raakasf]

[SMillerDev]

Yes, the brew tool lives in a subdirectory of Homebrew. Anything else installed is deemed required by brew to provide you with the software you requested.

[osalbahr]

According to Homebrew on Linux:

Homebrew does not use any libraries provided by your host system, except glibc and gcc if they are new enough. Homebrew can install its own current versions of glibc and gcc for older distributions of Linux.

I don't know what's currently new enough for the current state of formulae. But brew info is an easy way to check. I'll list a couple examples below with chezmoi. Note what's under ==> Dependencies:

$ brew info chezmoi
==> chezmoi: stable 2.36.1 (bottled), HEAD
...
==> Dependencies
Build: go ✘
...
$ brew config
HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.1.3
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 128df14e0afd0525564051a7665708c2973a3cab
Last commit: 2 days ago
Core tap origin: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core
Core tap HEAD: 037e893efc8e9ba8133d0f50766da73ef4ac2da2
Core tap last commit: 49 minutes ago
Core tap branch: master
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /home/osalbahr/homebrew
HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY: /home/osalbahr/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CELLAR: /home/osalbahr/homebrew/Cellar
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 4
HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API: set
Homebrew Ruby: 2.6.10 => /home/osalbahr/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/2.6.10_1/bin/ruby
CPU: quad-core 64-bit skylake
Clang: N/A
Git: 2.41.0 => /home/osalbahr/homebrew/bin/git
Curl: 7.81.0 => /bin/curl
Kernel: Linux 5.15.0-76-generic x86_64 GNU/Linux
OS: Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS (jammy)
Host glibc: 2.35
/usr/bin/gcc: 11.4.0
/usr/bin/ruby: 3.0.2
glibc: 2.35_1
gcc@11: N/A
gcc: 13.1.0
xorg: N/A

$ brew info chezmoi
==> chezmoi: stable 2.36.1 (bottled), HEAD
...
==> Dependencies
Build: go ✘
Required: gcc ✔, glibc ✔
...
$ brew config
HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.1.3
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 128df14e0afd0525564051a7665708c2973a3cab
Last commit: 2 days ago
Core tap origin: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core
Core tap HEAD: 037e893efc8e9ba8133d0f50766da73ef4ac2da2
Core tap last commit: 52 minutes ago
Core tap branch: master
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /home/osalbahr/homebrew
HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY: /home/osalbahr/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CELLAR: /home/osalbahr/homebrew/Cellar
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_CURL_PATH: /home/osalbahr/homebrew/bin/curl
HOMEBREW_GIT_PATH: /home/osalbahr/homebrew/bin/git
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 16
HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API: set
Homebrew Ruby: 2.6.10 => /home/osalbahr/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/2.6.10_1/bin/ruby
CPU: 16-core 64-bit skylake
Clang: 3.4.2 build 34
Git: 2.41.0 => /home/osalbahr/homebrew/bin/git
Curl: 8.2.1 => /home/osalbahr/homebrew/bin/curl
Kernel: Linux 5.4.65-200.el7.x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
OS: CentOS Linux release 7.9.2009 (Core)
Host glibc: 2.17
/usr/bin/gcc: 4.8.5
/usr/bin/ruby: 2.0.0
glibc: 2.35_1
gcc@11: N/A
gcc: 13.1.0
xorg: N/A

[ZhongRuoyu]

I don't know what's currently new enough for the current state of formulae.

glibc >= 2.35 and gcc >= 11.0. That is, not older than the ones use in Homebrew CI (running Ubuntu 22.04).

See also: Homebrew/brew#13619.