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Comment by naikrovek | Hacker News Reader

well if you're so sure, look at the code and the feature list[0] (to see what it actually does) then tell us what it is doing wrong.

[0]: https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/features.html

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If I compare this feature list to e.g. features of xterm (VT52/VT100/VT220/VT320/VT420/partial VT520 support, graphics via Sixel/ReGIS/Tek4014, …), I don't see a single reason why wezterm should be roughly 100MB large (according to pacman on Archlinux) vs roughly 1MB for xterm.

If you think "but terminal multiplexing and SSH!", then feel free to add 0.9MB for screen (or 1MB for tmux) and 4.8MB for openssh, and you're still way below the size of wezterm.

idk, I am with you and I don't typically care about sizes like this, but this does feel like quite a lot, although not as much as reported above. The split between the two rust programs here is pretty interesting.

[nix-shell:~]$ du -hs $(nix-build '<nixpkgs>' -A wezterm)

94M /nix/store/w7hpqwqqp7xq70wjsm8bd1yara0rhk9v-wezterm-20220408-101518-b908e2dd

[nix-shell:~]$ du -hs $(nix-build '<nixpkgs>' -A kitty)

25M /nix/store/9k0jn3219l6l7ywcqyvbifhd38cagfd9-kitty-0.25.2

[nix-shell:~]$ du -hs $(nix-build '<nixpkgs>' -A alacritty)

6.2M /nix/store/cq7zaagwcwn9blynw027bqszhnld2sk2-alacritty-0.10.1

Is the feature set difference between these really that much? At least, between kitty and wezterm?

Alacritty is basically as minimal a terminal emulator as you're going to get, wezterm is the polar opposite end of the spectrum. Kitty is in the middle, the main thing that wezterm has that kitty doesn't that I'm aware of is the daemon process that allows you to disconnect/reconnect to sessions which is what allows wezterm to function as a tmux replacement (vs kitty can't replace that aspect of tmux). Compared to alacritty, it has multiplexing, ssh sessions (new tabs/panes opened in that session are opened in the context of the remote host without requiring additional authentication), incredibly flexible configuration via lua, etc. And as far as size goes, kitty and wezterm are written in different languages so comparing them directly is not so simple.

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