distcc -- a distributed C
      compiler

"Speed, it seems to me, provides the one genuinely modern pleasure."
-- Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963)

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distcc is a program to distribute compilation of C code across several machines on a network. distcc should always generate the same results as a local compile, is simple to install and use, and is often significantly faster than a local compile.

Unlike other distributed build systems, distcc does not require all machines to share a filesystem, have synchronized clocks, or to have the same libraries or header files installed. Machines can be running different operating systems, as long as they have compatible binary formats or cross-compilers. (Currently it is being tested on gcc-linux-x86 and gcc-freebsd-x86.)

distcc sends the complete preprocessed source code across the network for each job, so all it requires of the volunteer machines is that they be running the distccd daemon, and that they have an appropriate compiler installed.

distcc is designed to be used with GNU make's parallel-build feature (-j). Shipping files across the network takes time, but few cycles on the client machine. Any files that can be built remotely are essentially "for free" in terms of client CPU.

distcc is quite new but has successfully compiled the Linux kernel, rsync, KDE, Samba and Ethereal, sometimes over twice as fast as a single machine.

Typical results: building Samba HEAD on a single HP x2000 (1700MHz P4, 1GB) takes 7 minutes, 15 seconds. Using distcc across three such machines on a 10Mbps hub takes only 3 minutes, 9 seconds (130% faster) and generates an identical binary.

distcc is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence v2.

Here's the good stuff:

You can use Freshmeat's subscription feature to be notified of new releases.

There is a single mailing list for development and use questions.

There will be a seminar about distcc at AOSS4, the Australian Open Source Symposium, on Saturday July 20, at UNSW in Sydney.

devlog


Copyright (C) 2002 by Martin Pool
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