Windows MSI built on Linux is 3× larger than if built on Windows

[andersk]

• Version: 22.9.1
• Electron Version: 11.0.3
• Electron Type (current, beta, nightly): current
• Target: Windows MSI

When I tried building zulip-desktop for Windows on the provided Docker image, the resulting MSI was 180 MB, compared to the 60 MB I get from building it on Windows.

This can be reproduced with other apps, e.g. electron-webpack-quick-start:

$ git clone -q https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-webpack-quick-start.git
$ cd electron-webpack-quick-start
$ curl -sO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/electron/electron/v11.0.3/spec/fixtures/assets/icon.ico
$ docker run --rm -ti -v $PWD:/project electronuserland/builder:wine
root@672d26c2db30:/project# yarn add electron-builder@latest
…
├─ [email protected]
…
root@672d26c2db30:/project# yarn upgrade
…
root@672d26c2db30:/project# yarn dist --win msi
…
root@672d26c2db30:/project# du -sb dist/*.msi dist/win-unpacked
174474240       dist/electron-webpack-quick-start 0.0.0.msi
178057532       dist/win-unpacked

Building this on Windows instead gives a 57520128 byte MSI. The win-unpacked folder is about the same size (172943202 bytes), so I suspect a compression issue with the MSI.

[stale[bot]]

Is this still relevant? If so, what is blocking it? Is there anything you can do to help move it forward?

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs.

[andersk]

Yes, this still reproduces with the latest version of electron-builder. (Which is the same as the latest version of electron-builder when I originally reported the bug. Maybe this stalebot configuration is a bit aggressive?)

[stale[bot]]

Is this still relevant? If so, what is blocking it? Is there anything you can do to help move it forward?

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs.

[kolaente]

Yes, still relevant with version 22.11.5

[stale[bot]]

Is this still relevant? If so, what is blocking it? Is there anything you can do to help move it forward?

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs.

[kolaente]

Yes, still relevant with the latest version.

[stale[bot]]

Is this still relevant? If so, what is blocking it? Is there anything you can do to help move it forward?

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs.

[andersk]

Still an issue in 23.0.3.

[FizzBuzz791]

It looks like compression doesn't work if you're not on a native windows OS. The win-upacked dir is ~500Mb and the .msi is slightly higher than that (which makes sense).

On a native windows OS, the win-unpacked dir is ~500Mb but then the .msi is only 151Mb, which is much closer to what I'd expect.

[webdevmario]

Still an issue in 23.1.0.