Python *.py, *.pyo, *.pyc: Which can be eliminated for an Embedded System?

Question

To squeeze into the limited amount of filesystem storage available in an embedded system I'm currently playing with, I would like to eliminate any files that could reasonably be removed without significantly impacting functionality or performance. The *.py, *.pyo, and *.pyc files in the Python library account for a sizable amount of space, I'm wondering which of these options would be most reasonable for a Python 2.6 installation in a small embedded system:

1. Keep *.py, eliminate *.pyc and *.pyo (Maintain ability to debug, performance suffers?)
2. Keep *.py and *.pyc, eliminate *.pyo (Does optimization really buy anything?)
3. Keep *.pyc, eliminate *.pyo and *.py (Will this work?)
4. Keep *.py, *.pyc, and *.pyo (All are needed?)

Answer 1

http://www.network-theory.co.uk/docs/pytut/CompiledPythonfiles.html

When the Python interpreter is invoked with the -O flag, optimized code is generated and stored in ‘.pyo’ files. The optimizer currently doesn't help much; it only removes assert statements.

Passing two -O flags to the Python interpreter (-OO) will cause the bytecode compiler to perform optimizations that could in some rare cases result in malfunctioning programs. Currently only doc strings are removed from the bytecode, resulting in more compact ‘.pyo’ files.

My suggestion to you?

Use -OO to compile only .pyo files if you don't need assert statements and __doc__ strings.

Otherwise, go with .pyc only.

Edit

I noticed that you only mentioned the Python library. Much of the python library can be removed if you only need part of the functionality.

I also suggest that you take a look at tinypy which is large subset of Python in about 64kb.

Answer 2

Number 3 should and will work. You do not need the .pyo or .py files in order to use the compiled python code.