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Message-ID: <3EA57071.7020607@iseran.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 09:40:17 -0700
From: Steve Loughran <steve_l@iseran.com>
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To: Ant Users List <user@ant.apache.org>
Subject: Re: can't look archives - Ant for C??
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Dean Hiller wrote:
> No, not looking for a converter.  The program doesn't even need to be 
> written in C.  I just would like to be able to write  a build.xml file 
> and get rid of all the make files that are currently used.  I can do 
> that myself.  I don't mind.  Just need a program.  I will try the 
> contrib.zip and see what that has.  thanks Dominique for that info.

I've used in experiments, DD has used it in production. I am now working 
on some win32 stuff (boo) and will try and set up 
cruisecontrol/cc/CppUnit to give an imitation of a java build process.

>    What I am hoping is this will speed up the build of our legacy 
> system.  I don't understand how it takes 5 hours to build a 50 meg 
> binary and I can build a 15 meg java binary in 10 minutes with ant.  I 
> think it has something to do with make files and the scripts.  I have a 
> feeling if those can be eliminated, the build can be improved 
> drastically.  The above statistics tell me the legacy is around 3.5 
> times bigger but takes 30 times as long to build.  Has anybody looked at 
> build performance before?

going back to C++, compile times are a shock. But then all those header 
files are half the problem, macros and templates and the complexity of 
C++ the other. At compile time, Java builds against the precompiled 
.class files of other libraries, whereas C++ has to include and 
recompile every single header file of every library you use.

Its funny, you soon get back into the habit of being reluctant to make 
changes that change the core header files, because of the build impact. 
That is bad -the tools are shaping the process, not the other way around.

The <cc> tasks do track dependencies (#included files) for rebuilding 
when things change, but the only thing that speeds up the build is 
precompiled headers. I dont know if it handles those.

And then of course, there is the linking time...

-Steve