We can now link even smaller Python binaries. For example, the hello.com
program in the Python build directory is a compiled linked executable of
hello.py which just prints hello world. Using decentralized sections, we
can make that binary 1.9mb in size (noting that python.com is 6.3 megs!)
This works for nontrivial programs too. For example, say we want an APE
binary that's equivalent to python.com -m http.server. Our makefile now
builds such a binary using the new launcher and it's only 3.2mb in size
since Python sources get turned into ELF objects, which tell our linker
that we need things like native hashing algorithm code.
This change pays off technical debt with the function -> DLL mappings in
libc/nt/master.sh, which was originally defined based on binary analysis
on Windows 10. It's now been updated so the kernel32/kernelbase/advapi32
imports should be exactly as they are written, on the MSDN documentation
and that wouldn't have been easy without Geoff Chappell's work thank him
https://www.geoffchappell.com/studies/windows/win32/index.htm
