The fork of Apache 1.3 that OpenBSD had wasn't really that big.
EDIT:
The C source files and headers under src/usr.sbin/httpd are about 100k lines. Under src/usr.sbin/nginx you have closer to 170k lines. Of course this isn't exactly apples to apples comparison as both have optional modules and at least nginx has some OS-specific code.
In any case though, it is really hard to argue that nginx is "light, small, and fast" while httpd is a bloated swiss army chainsaw with a kitten sink...
Code size is in almost no way an indicator of performance or bloat.
Ik can write a program that will use 100% CPU in about 10 LOC, while there can be very well-optimized pieces of software can be thousands to millions LOC.
In my book bloat and performance are two entirely different things, and I think there is a strong correlation between code size and bloat.
I agree about highly optimized code being typically larger than the simpler alternative.
Now nginx has interesting optimizations in some places (e.g. the http parser), but if you read the code, it's not like 90% of the code in nginx is there due to optimization.
I'd like to add that from an OpenBSD perspective, excess optimizations would no doubt be considered bloat as well. One of the goals is that the code is clean, correct, and secure. I know for a fact that the developers are not going to carefully audit and maintain millions of lines of micro-optimizations. What these might get you is a tick in a hypothetical feature checklist ("performance"). But if another daemon does the job and performs well enough, then that feature is unneeded complexity, hence bloat. Not something you want to include in what aims to be the world's most secure general purpose operating system.
EDIT:
The C source files and headers under src/usr.sbin/httpd are about 100k lines. Under src/usr.sbin/nginx you have closer to 170k lines. Of course this isn't exactly apples to apples comparison as both have optional modules and at least nginx has some OS-specific code.
In any case though, it is really hard to argue that nginx is "light, small, and fast" while httpd is a bloated swiss army chainsaw with a kitten sink...