Tbh I dont really see how anyone can call this bloat( I use doas btw). Its just so much more space efficient. 4 example I ported capitaine cursors and it takes below 200 kbs of space, its just that much more space efficient
You are most likely correct from a technical point of view.
But don't ever underestimate the potential of weird folks to be -- Weird.
Not that I think it's per se a bad thing -- But I feel like a lot of Linux people are pack bonded to the utilities and tools they have grown used to. Whatever justification they write comes after the fact from an emotional reaction to seeing the thing they are bonded with lose ground.
I must admit that I personaly see this as slightly bloated for using SVG, although I don't see a good alternative.
Supporting SVG fully basically requires a webbrowser, because it has JavaScript support.
The best alternative I can think of is using fonts formats, but that is less accessible for custom cursors, and idk how they deal with colors.