DistCC - Definition and Overview

distcc is a computer program that distributes processes of compiling C and its derivatives like C++ and Objective C source code over a computer network. With the right configuration, the program can dramatically reduce compilation time.

The intention is to speed up compilation by utilising unused processing power on other computers. A machine with distcc installed can send the code to be compiled across the network to a computer which has the distccd daemon and a compatible compiler installed (distcc is designed to work with gcc).

distc works as an agent for the compiler. A distcc daemon has to run on each of the participating machines. The originating machine invokes a preprocessor to handle soure files and sends the preprocessed source to other machines over the network via TCP. Remote machines compile those source files without any local dependencies (such as header files or macro definitions) to object files and send them back to the originator for further compilation.

Ccache is another tool aimed to reduce the compilation time by caching the output from the same input.

External links

• http://distcc.samba.org/ - Official website
• distcc optimizations (http://www.csh.rit.edu/slashdot/distcc.html)