Introduction

distcc can distribute compilations across a network, greatly reducing compile times. Even if you only have one other computer available, it can already make a noticeable difference.

Usage instructions

The following instructions assume your main development machine is running Haiku and the helper machines run Linux.

Preparing helper machines

• Install ​distcc, using the package manager or from source

• Check out the build tools

  svn co http://svn.haiku-os.org/haiku/buildtools/trunk buildtools
  

• Check out partial Haiku tree

  svn co --depth=immediates http://svn.haiku-os.org/haiku/haiku/trunk haiku
  svn update --set-depth infinity build headers/config headers/os headers/posix
  

• Build the cross-compilers

  mkdir generated.x86gcc2
  mkdir generated.x86gcc4
  cd generated.x86gcc2
  ../configure --use-32bit --alternative-gcc-output-dir ../generated.x86gcc4 --build-cross-tools ../../buildtools/
  cd ../generated.x86gcc4
  ../configure --alternative-gcc-output-dir ../generated.x86gcc2 --build-cross-tools-gcc4 x86 ../../buildtools/
  cd ..
  

• Make the cross-compilers available under a verbose name. Run gcc -v to find out the exact version. Verify that they are the same as on the Haiku machine.

  mkdir bin && cd bin
  ln -s ../generated.x86gcc2/cross-tools/i586-pc-haiku/bin/gcc i586-pc-haiku-gcc-2.95.3-haiku-100818
  ln -s ../generated.x86gcc4/cross-tools/i586-pc-haiku/bin/gcc i586-pc-haiku-gcc-4.4.4-haiku-101111
  cd ..
  

• Start the distcc daemon

  PATH=$PWD/bin:$PATH distccd --allow <IP of Haiku machine>
  

Preparing the Haiku machine

• Make GCC 2 and 4 available under the verbose names.

  ln -s /boot/develop/abi/x86/gcc2/tools/current/bin/gcc /boot/common/bin/i586-pc-haiku-gcc-2.95.3-haiku-100818
  ln -s /boot/develop/abi/x86/gcc4/tools/current/bin/gcc /boot/common/bin/i586-pc-haiku-gcc-4.4.4-haiku-101111
  

• Adjust generated.x86gcc2/build/BuildConfig

  HAIKU_CC ?= distcc i586-pc-haiku-gcc-2.95.3-haiku-100818 ;
  

• Adjust generated.x86gcc4/build/BuildConfig

  HAIKU_CC ?= distcc i586-pc-haiku-gcc-4.4.4-haiku-101111 ;
  

• Add hostname or IP addresses of the helpers to /boot/common/etc/distcc/hosts

• Uncomment 127.0.0.1 in /boot/common/etc/distcc/hosts/clients.allow

• Start the distcc daemon

  distccd --allow 127.0.0.1
  

Now you can run jam as usual, but you should pass twice the total number of cores in the distcc network to the -j option. During a build, you can see what is happening by running

distccmon-text 1

If you want to use distcc in combination with with colorgcc, you can mask simply the distcc executable

cd /boot/common/bin
mv distcc distcc_real
wget http://dev.haiku-os.org/raw-attachment/wiki/DevelopmentTools/DistCC/distcc
chmod +x distcc

References

• ​distcc on HaikuPorts
• ​distcc and cross-compilers
• ​Using distcc (www.distcc.org) to speed up building Haiku