Put Your Mac Apps on a Diet

Wow thanks for that Chris, definitely going to check it out!

Are there any open source equivalents to Xslimmer?

Very cool! But, unless i am missing somthing, there is an app that i know that does the SAME thing for FREE! It is called Monolingual. It really worked well on my Macbook, (2.2 ghz 2 gig. Ram, 120 gb HD, Leopard) and i recomend it to anyone and everyone using an Intel Mac, and at least Panther. The web site also mentions nothing about Leopard, but i am using it on my Macbook, and it runs just fine. (=

http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/

I can see why/where this would be useful to some people, but in many cases it can be harmful. (Most of my comments refer to removing code for either the Intel or PPC architecture.)
If an application is signed, modifying the binary invalidates the signature. (See http://developer.apple.com/releasenotes/Security/RN-CodeSigning/index.html).
Also, when launching a Universal Binary application on OS X (an app containing code for Intel and PowerPC processors), the OS only loads into memory the code for the architecture you’re using. Often, application resources (help files, images, etc) take up more space than the code itself.
Finally, a warning to those who want to use this on Creative Suite applications - don’t. It tends to break Adobe’s already-frail update mechanism, even if you leave the application binary alone and just remove the localizations.

If you have a small hard drive, then apps like Xslimmer are quite useful for regaining as much HD space as possible. In fact, I use Delocalizer on my iBook G4 (20GB drive). Just wanted to add a few friendly warnings.

When I read the article on this App I knew right away that I was going to buy this.. So I just went and bought it and slimmed all compitable apps. I saved 1.85 GB in 70 apps and all my apps work perfectly. Some of my apps like firefox loads much faster..

I love this app and I can highly recomend it to other mac users.

@MacBoy14 - This is Pedro from the Xslimmer Team. I am currently running a slimmed version of Airport Utility and it works fine for me. Can you please contact us so we can test what’s happening in your case?

Many thanks for your nice comments, we’ve put a lot of effort into the app and it’s incredibly rewarding to receive positive feedback from our customers :)

@Chris Garaffa - Hi Chris, you have raised a couple of interesting points that some of our users have already asked us about. Let me try to reassure your confidence :)

- Regarding code signing, which will probably become more and more frequent as new Leopard apps ship, the situation differs between signed executable files (i.e., files containing code or libraries) and signed resources (i.e., images or data files). Signed *resources* cannot be modified or deleted, so we added a check, starting in Xslimmer 1.2.8, that automatically excludes them from the list of suitable files to be slimmed down. Signing code files, on the other hand, affects each architecture independently, as described in http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Security/Conceptual/CodeSigningGuide/Procedures/chapter_3_section_4.html. That document specifically states that “Because each architecture component is signed independently, it is all right to perform universal-binary operations (such as running the lipo command) on signed programs. The result will still be validly signed as long as you make no other changes.”. It’s also worthwhile mentioning that even if an application is signed, usually only a subset of the resources contained in the bundle are actually signed. This means that the opportunity for size reduction is still present, even if to a lesser extent.

- Your comment on Adobe’s Creative Suite is also correct. The applications work perfectly fine after being slimmed down, but the update procedure fails due to the integrity checks the apps perform. In this case, we had no choice but to add the apps to the blacklist, so they will not be modified in any way when running Xslimmer. This blacklist containing apps known not to work properly is dynamically downloaded by Xslimmer, and all entries are added by us after careful evaluation of reports from our customers. I believe this mechanism, combined with the built-in backup procedure or the check for signed resources, provides a reasonable safety net for our customers.

@Kristian - Thanks a lot! Our business relies on user satisfaction and word of mouth, and we are proud you like our software as much as to recommend it :)

Xslimmer sounds great and i really want it. How did you get if free from Macheist. I just bought the bundle, but Xslimmer was not included. id there a specific code for it. That would be great if i could get if for free. Anyways thanks for the info chris.

This app looks seriously great. It has an immediate download from me. Smart and simple. oh ya and thanks Chris for turning me to mac heist its great.

I just bought x-slimmer a few days ago! Before I downloaded it I couldn’t run multiple programs without having delays or pauses within programs on start up, my hard drive is packed full of programs! After using this program I wonder how I ever lived without it! My whole computer system runs great again without any errors, programs run faster in all aspects and its really easy to use! its a great tool and a must have program for any mac user!

Pedro - I am running leopard and the Airport Utility, when slimmed, for me at least, all it does is give me the Help File…I think..it was something like that….

Steven - Monolingual only takes away the Languages in an app… Xslimmer does one better it also takes away the architecture that isn’t needed. EX. If you have a PPC processor it will remove the Intel part of Universal apps…Opposite is true for Intel processors…It will remove the PPC part.

Wow if this works how it is said this should be built in osx 10.5.5