Bandit wrote:
However, it IS possible to compress the system folder to get it around half the size. My Mac is reporting 118.6 MB uncompressed and 52.3 MB compressed (tar + gunzip). Would that be sufficient enough?
Let me know if that'll work for you and I'll post the steps on how to get it all working.
I just want to understand. Are you asking me to simply transform "system" to "system.tar.gz" ? Then what? How Avira is going to know that "system" is now "system.tar.gz"? Should I change something in the syslinux/grub4dos files?
About the size, each user can have an "acceptable" size. Most of the files in "system" are several fonts; that's why you can compress them to about 50%. This would make Avira about 150 MB, without the "update" function. I am not the developer of UBCD (Victor is), but my guess is that UBCD won't include
by default a 150MB to 170MB Antivirus, being UBCD's size 255MB without Avira. It still
could be a valid customization for some users.
With the "update" function included, Avira is 15 to 20 MB bigger, which means 220MB originally, and 170MB if "system" is compressed (against less than 90MB of AVG).
Now, "system" also contains network "drivers", and without the "upgrade" function (as you presented it in your first post of this topic), those "drivers" have no use.
About the changes between the previous Avira and the current one, there are several points.
The new one uses the "new" database (32 files) instead of the old one (4 files). This is not actually changing so much the total size anyway.
The previous Avira used a more "simple" Linux. Now it seems to require those fonts (which are using most of the "system" folder size). The "system" folder (without compression) is about half of the total 220MB.
Avira now includes more languages, while previously there were only German and English.
The new Avira includes some additional tools (not really needed when merging it with UBCD ).
The previous Avira was "merge-able" with PartedMagic, already included. The new one has the "self-check" protection, which is a good safety feature, but probably prevents it from being "merge-able".
Let me know if I understood correctly about simply compressing "system" to "system.tar.gz", and what to do after compressing it. If no other change is needed (including its location), I'll give it a try as an ISO image booting a VM. Just let me know.