Micropython image with ulab has become too big

[uraich]

I used to integrate ulab into my micropython image but when doing this on recent versions of micropython/ulab the images become too big.
I have no idea if the reason is a change in micropython or in ulab. Interestingly I am able to compile a version of micropython for the esp32s3 including tensorflow lite micro and the image is still a lot smaller than my esp32 version with ulab alone.
Do you have seen the sudden change in firmware size on the esp32 as well? and do you have any idea where I can look?
Thanks

[v923z]

We have added meshgrid recently, but that is a relatively small chunk of code, I don't think that that could explain. You could try to switch off functions that you're not going to use in the header: https://github.com/v923z/micropython-ulab/blob/master/code/ulab.h.

[uraich]

Well, this is certainly not the reason. There must be some incompatibility between new versions of micropython and ulab. The problem started with v1.26 of micropython: https://github.com/orgs/micropython/discussions/17225
I tried to modify the file esp32_common.cmake as described in the issue in the link. This reduced the size substantially and it reduced it enough for me to make it usable again.
When using other C modules in micropython I do not see the size increase.
Unfortunately I have not understood yet what MICROPY_ROM_TEXT_COMPRESSION is good for.

[v923z]

@dpgeorge Damien, I don't want to re-open https://github.com/orgs/micropython/discussions/17225, but since multiple people are affected (and there are probably even more, who don't file a report), I was wondering, whether you comment on the issue. Is there something I could do on ulab's side? What would be the most obvious culprit in your opinion?

[dpgeorge]

It looks like user C modules do not compile with optimisation on esp32! The rest of the system does, but not the user C module source files. So ulab runs a lot slower than it should on esp32 😬

See micropython/micropython#18880

[v923z]

Thanks for the feedback!