Is there a memory bloat issue with ubuntu library compilation?

[mr_ed]

What libraries are being compiled into the Ubuntu version of Firefox?

That will up your footprint, will it not?

Try recompiling in Gentoo with a bunch of USE flags added.  (I don't
know what those may be... This is just a suggestion)

If that turns out to be the case, those libraries may or may not be
loaded by other programs.  IIRC, Linux memory usage will show the total
amount available to that program, even when a library is shared.

So, for example, top shows
Program X: 20MB
Program Y: 16MB
Total: 36MB

even though both programs are sharing library L, which is 4MB.  So it
should really look like this:

X: 16MB
Y: 12MB
L: 4MB
Total: 32MB

Anyway, I can't confirm this.  It's just a thought.


-- 
mr_ed