F = T ∇ Sτ

One of the biggest challenges with embedding platforms is the limitation related to file sizes. Here is the hint how to make executables smaller - strip them and pack them: strip is a tool from GNU binutils , it discards symbols. Usually the platform toolchain has one. upx is an excellent executable packer. Can be downloaded as binary or sources from the UPX sf.net site . As an example, I'll show you the packing of Python 2.6.7 binary: $ ls -s --block-size=KB python 6493kB python $ strip -s python $ ls -s --block-size=KB python 1696kB python $ upx --best python                        Ultimate Packer for eXecutables                           Copyright (C) 1996 - 2010 UPX 3.05        Markus Oberhumer, Laszlo Molnar & John Reiser   Apr 27th 2010         File size         Rati...

A little hint for Python developers who use it for embedded or unconventional platforms (like Cray supercomputers if you're lucky): it can be compiled and used without any dynamic libraries. I've got the problem with stripped libc.so - some Python shared object (like _socket.so ) try to use it, but can't find anything because it's stripped. The only choice I had is using Python without these shared objects. Fortunately, Python support it out of the box. After configuring it, you can use Modules/Setup file to set up which modules have to be compiled within the Python binary: The build process works like this:  1. Build all modules that are declared as static in Modules/Setup,     combine them into libpythonxy.a, combine that into python.  2. Build all modules that are listed as shared in Modules/Setup.  3. Invoke setup.py. That builds all modules that     a) are not builtin, and     b) are not listed in Modules/Setup, and   ...