I get the "16MB problem". And it is a problem.
But not sure a "Lite" version help. I think just add more complexity & features don't so neatly correspond to the disk size is the other problem. And some of the code for features is in the kernel, or bundled into larger processes.
The issue is any "bigger" features (in terms of file & without dependancies) should be moved out, so folks can better mix-and-match. For example, I sometimes need some extra-packages (gps, zerotier, container) but often don't need IPv6 or hotspot (those two were possible to remove in V6, so not sure what changed in V7).
I extracted the ARM package below, you can kinda see how things are not so cleanly mapped from feature to files. But you can kinda see how
IPv6, hotspot, snmp, and smb all look like better "targets" for packages, and likely more like the "proxy things" all looks kinda separate too. But the routing stuff looks pretty bundled IMO. Now using multiple packages costs space too – something Mikroitk has pointed out on this topic – but there has to be somethings that can pulled out that overwhelm any add'l size from the packaging.
Also, I'm not saying necessarily that smb etc made into packages needs to go to "extra-packages" – it could be in a default install. But if it was a package, it could be removed to add something else. That's the problem, not a "Lite" version.
So the "menu" to cut looks more like this in reality (sizes are the UNCOMPRESSED size):
cd nova/bin; ls -lh | awk '{print $5, $9}' | sort -hr
1.4M route
1.2M net
703K sys2
576K parser
267K bridge2
210K lcdstat
199K cerm
178K snmp
166K smb
166K diskd
139K wproxy
139K login
138K graphing
134K quickset
118K cloud
106K www
106K upnp
102K ssld
102K resolver
98K trafficgen
98K dot1x
86K crossfig
82K vrrp
82K romon
74K user
74K mesh
74K loader
71K mproxy
70K ntp
70K moduler
70K letsencrypt
66K ptp
66K log
66K led
66K fileman
66K detnet
66K btest
62K socks
62K sniffer
62K installer
62K discover
54K mtget
50K radius
46K portman
46K natpmp
46K logmaker
46K kidcontrol
46K keyman
46K igmpproxy
42K mode
38K ping
38K mactel
38K email
34K tftpd
34K profiler
34K partd
34K ftpd
30K watchdog
30K traceroute
30K sertcp
26K undo
26K sstore
26K sermgr
26K mepty
26K ippool
26K agent
25K poeupdatefwv3
22K trafflow
22K macping
21K telnet
18K backup
17K rtrace
13K arpd
9.2K telser
9.2K panicsl
5.1K havecardbus
5.1K convertbr
7B modprobed
4B cerm-worker
And if you look for just big files over 100KB it looks like this:
find . -type f -exec ls -lh {} + | awk '{print $5, $9}' | sort -hr
1.9M ./nova/lib/console/1073741824.mem
1.4M ./nova/bin/route
1.2M ./nova/bin/net
1.1M ./lib/libcrypto.so.1.0.0
703K ./nova/bin/sys2
673K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/drivers/net/prestera_dx_mac.ko
634K ./bndl/wifi/nova/bin/ww2
576K ./nova/bin/parser
480K ./bndl/ppp/nova/bin/ppp
449K ./bndl/security/nova/bin/ipsec
411K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/fs/ext4/ext4.ko
407K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/net/ipv6/ipv6.ko
393K ./lib/libumsg.so
267K ./nova/bin/bridge2
234K ./lib/libc.so
227K ./bndl/hotspot/nova/bin/hotspot
211K ./lib/libucrypto.so
210K ./nova/bin/lcdstat
201K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/drivers/usb/mu3h/mu3h-xhci-hcd.ko
199K ./nova/bin/cerm
178K ./nova/bin/snmp
176K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/drivers/ata/libata.ko
175K ./bndl/dhcp/nova/bin/dhcp
173K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/drivers/usb/core/usbcore.ko
171K ./bndl/security/nova/bin/ssh
171K ./bndl/ipv6/nova/lib/console/1212153856.mem
169K ./nova/etc/pciinfo/system.x3
166K ./nova/bin/smb
166K ./nova/bin/diskd
166K ./bndl/wifi/nova/lib/console/1275068416.mem
162K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/drivers/net/packet_hook.ko
155K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/net/bridge/bridge2.ko
148K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/drivers/net/quectel_mhi.ko
139K ./nova/bin/wproxy
139K ./nova/bin/login
138K ./nova/bin/graphing
138K ./lib/librappsup.so
134K ./nova/bin/quickset
131K ./bndl/ppp/nova/lib/console/1090519040.mem
124K ./nova/etc/leds/system.x3
121K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/drivers/net/bonding/bonding.ko
121K ./etc/license
118K ./nova/bin/cloud
116K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/drivers/scsi/scsi_mod.ko
115K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack.ko
106K ./nova/bin/www
106K ./nova/bin/upnp
103K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/drivers/mmc/core/mmc_core.ko
102K ./nova/bin/ssld
102K ./nova/bin/resolver
101K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/drivers/net/usb/mbim.ko
100K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/option.ko
100K ./lib/modules/5.6.3/kernel/drivers/usb/host/xhci-hcd.ko