The Challenge of Massive Binaries in Large-Scale Codebases
By
todsacerdoti
Pure flour-power. Hearty enough to carry you through lunch.
Summary
The article discusses the challenge of massive binary files (ELF files) in large-scale codebases, drawing from the author's personal experience during their PhD and industry work at Google. The author encountered binaries exceeding 25GiB with debug symbols, highlighting a problem that only exists at massive scale but is often dismissed by academic reviewers who claim such problems don't exist. The piece explores how these huge binaries come to be and the disconnect between industry-scale problems and academic recognition.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledOne problem that is only present at these mega-codebases is massive binaries.
I had observed binaries beyond 25GiB, including debug symbols.
Responses to my publication submissions often claimed such problems did not exist; however, I had observed them during my time within industry, such as at Google, but I couldn't cite it!
What's the largest binary (ELF file) you've ever seen?
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