Tree-Shake python dependencies

[baseplate-admin]

Discussed in https://github.com/orgs/kivy/discussions/22

^{Originally posted by baseplate-admin January 5, 2024}
As it stands,

The apk generated by python-for-android are large in size and nature.

I was wondering if it was possible to tree shake the android venv to reduce size.

Possible paths :

• Compile python with bare minimum: This means we remove the stdlib to a bare minimum for our app to function.
• Remove codes from venv : Tools like dead and vulture can be of use here.
• Use better compression algorithm : Maybe support brotli/zstd instead of .zip ( or maybe even 7-zip )

[NomadDemon]

about last dot:
ok, but it cannot cost us startup time

ii would prefer faster startup than filesize to be honest

100-150 mb is ok size for decent phones imho

[baseplate-admin]

ok, but it cannot cost us startup time

I dont think adding brotli increases the startup time that much (since 38% of the web uses brotli)

[baseplate-admin]

Hi @misl6, could we please move this?

[misl6]

Move where? I'm missing something?

The apk generated by python-for-android are large in size and nature.

Are really that large? Can you set your expectation and describe the current status?

[baseplate-admin]

Move where? I'm missing something?

I am extremely sorry that i was not clear with my words. I meant transfer this issue to python-for-android issue.

Are really that large? Can you set your expectation and describe the current status?

I am sorry that i overexaggerated the size. But yes it is quite large.

Please take a look at flet-dev/flet#2319 (reply in thread) .

In here the python bundle is 7Mb without any dependencies, in reality, when an app has a lot of dependencies, ( such as numpy ) the size tends to add up.

My proposal is to remove redundant codes when building the apk using buildozer / python-for-android. This approach is used by pythoninstaller

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Now that kivy toolchains are used to build applications outside of kivy ecosystem, I think this approach will vastly improve the python android ecosystem all-together