VPS backup size comparison -- Alpine binary only base vs *BSD-current with sources, self-compiled

Not_Oles

Alpine base, binary only, no sources, apk upgraded to edge: 662.81 MB

OpenBSD-current, self-compiled, with sources: 23.92 GB

FreeBSD-current, self compiled. with sources: 48.53 GB

NetBSD-current, self-compiled, with sources (including pkgsrc): 84.65 GB

Sizes reported by vmcontrol.linveo.com panel Backup page. The panel doesn't say the type of backup or the method of compression. Nevertheless, the relative size comparison seemed interesting.

Maybe I might try self-compiling Alpine. Has anyone here done that?

Thanks to @linveo for kindly donating the VPS used for NetBSD-current.

cmeerw

Just for comparison: the NetBSD images i create (for @linveo - others would be free to use those as well) use a 512 MB filesystem (and include base etc kern-GENERIC man modules rescue)

Not_Oles

Impossible to resist installing @cmeerw's NetBSD 11.0 RC4 image and making a backup just to see the size comparison with Alpine.

NetBSD 11.0_RC4 (GENERIC) #0: Tue May 12 04:23:51 UTC 2026

Welcome to NetBSD!

This is a release candidate for NetBSD.

Bug reports: https://www.NetBSD.org/support/send-pr.html
Donations to the NetBSD Foundation: https://www.NetBSD.org/donations/
We recommend that you create a non-root account and use su(1) for root access.
vps3# date; uptime
Mon Jun 15 05:23:16 UTC 2026
 5:23AM  up 4 mins, 1 user, load averages: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
vps3# 

Want to guess the backup size result before you see it?

NetBSD 434.94 MB
Alpine 662.81 MB

Thanks @cmeerw! Thanks @linveo!

rcy026

@Not_Oles said:
Alpine base, binary only, no sources, apk upgraded to edge: 662.81 MB

OpenBSD-current, self-compiled, with sources: 23.92 GB

FreeBSD-current, self compiled. with sources: 48.53 GB

NetBSD-current, self-compiled, with sources (including pkgsrc): 84.65 GB

Sizes reported by vmcontrol.linveo.com panel Backup page. The panel doesn't say the type of backup or the method of compression. Nevertheless, the relative size comparison seemed interesting.

Maybe I might try self-compiling Alpine. Has anyone here done that?

Thanks to @linveo for kindly donating the VPS used for NetBSD-current.

I'm guessing you are backing the entire vm? Could it be that whatever backup solution you are using cant read the BSD's filesystem so it reverts to a bit for bit backup strategy?
How big are the filesystems in each vm?

WSS

If you really want to build a tiny distribution, you should look at Damn Small Linux or Linux from Scratch. There are plenty of really tiny distributions you can build from source. Gentoo was one of the most common where people would bootstrap from a tiny image and build the world around that.