distcc

Compile with distcc

$ distcc [gcc] -c [file.c] -o [file.o]

$ export DISTCC_HOSTS="[host1] [host2] [localhost]"

$ make -j [8] CC="distcc gcc"

$ distccmon-text [1]

$ distcc --show-hosts

distcc [compiler] [args]

distcc distributes C/C++ compilation across multiple machines on a network. It sends preprocessing output to remote hosts for compilation, speeding up large builds by parallelizing across available CPUs.
The tool acts as a compiler wrapper, deciding whether to compile locally or remotely based on host availability and load. It's transparent to build systems that support CC variable override.

--show-hosts

Display configured hosts.

Show Kerberos principal.

Maximum jobs (in make).

Randomize host order.

Display help information.

DISTCC_HOSTS: Space-separated list of hosts
DISTCC_DIR: Override state directory
DISTCC_LOG: Log file path
DISTCC_VERBOSE: Enable verbose logging

hostname: Simple hostname
hostname:port: With custom port
hostname/limit: Limit jobs to host
@hostname: SSH mode
--localslots=N: Local job slots

Requires same compiler version on all hosts. Network latency adds overhead for small files. Preprocessing always done locally. Headers must be available locally.

distcc was created by Martin Pool in 2002 at Linuxcare. It addressed the need to speed up Linux kernel and large project builds. The tool became widely used in open source development and was later maintained by the community.

distccd(1), ccache(1), make(1), gcc(1)