The size of the last binary package for flite has increased dramatically:
version 2.2-7:    ~240 kB (~600 kB installed)
version 2.2-7+b2: ~30 MB (~67 MB installed)

This new version is marked as a binary-only upload without any source
changes, so there are no explanations in the Changelog. I also could not
find any relevant information in the Package Tracker and Bug Reports.

The package is described as a "Small run-time speech synthesis engine",
and the name "flite" was supposed to mean "festival-lite", but now this
package became not "small" at all, and in fact at least 10 times larger
than festival itself.

Apparently, there is something very wrong with this "+b2" version.

Hello,

Mikhail Ryazanov, le mer. 02 sept. 2026 16:01:32 -0600, a ecrit:
libraries are not built yet when the binaries are linked, and thus
the libflite libraries get linked statically into the binaries instead
of dynamically...

I had already disabled parallel build for reproducibility reasons in
git, that'll fix this bug as well :)

Samuel

So, I guess, there is no hope to expect correctly built flite_2.2-7+b3?
I see that change scheduled for the version 2.2-8. Any estimates when it
will be released? The signature under that entry in the changelog is
almost one year old, and 2.2-7 was released almost two years ago.

Hello,

Mikhail Ryazanov, le jeu. 03 sept. 2026 20:48:39 -0600, a ecrit:

Only if it's built with DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=parallel=1

When it will make some sense.
user-visible change). The size increase really only matters for next
debian release, probably around summer 27, to save archive disk space.

Note that during execution the memory size is the same: instead of
running a binary+library, you run a binary with the library being
embedded.

Samuel