Why is the file /bin/false so large?

[Loïc Grenié]

2010/2/9 Chris Jones <christopher.rob.jones at cern.ch>:
>
>>   Yes and no, sh/bash/dash is probably already in memory for some
>>  (many) shell-scripts. Since most of the memory is shared between
>>  processes (read-only memory of processes and libraries is shared),
>>  memory footprint won't change much whether you launch this script
>>  or not.
>>
>>     Whether this is a sensible idea or not, I leave it to more
>>  knowledgeable people.
>
> True, but the same logic applies to a binary /bin/false (once it has ben used once) ...

    Sure but that was not the question. The question was "why is the file
  so large". The answer is "because of init+help+shared libraries code"
  and in addition "you can make the file smaller using a shell script".

     Loïc