Building pkgsrcs with distcc
============================
iMil <imil@gcu.info>

From devel/distcc/DESCR :

--8<--

distcc is a program to distribute compilation of C or 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
two or more times faster than a local compile.

-->8--

pkgsrc infrastructure permits the use of distcc to build a package, and thus
speed up your building time.
Here is what to install and how to use /etc/mk.conf so you can take benefit of
distcc.

1. Install distcc
-----------------

From the pkgsrc tree, install distcc :

# cd /usr/pkgsrc/devel/distcc
# make install clean

Ensure it will startup at boot time by setting :

distccd=YES

PAY ATTENTION TO THIS: I had some bad experiences with distccd rejecting
connection from any other host than localhost when running official rc.d
script, so instead of the standard way, I added :

/usr/pkg/bin/distccd --daemon --user nobody --listen my-host

to my /etc/rc.local

2. Setting up /etc/mk.conf
--------------------------

Add the following to /etc/mk.conf

# define distcc as the main package compiler
PKGSRC_COMPILER=distcc gcc
# list distccd usable hosts
DISTCC_HOSTS=my-host my-host1 my-host2 localhost
# I discovered this one by reading bsd.pkg.mk
# this is the way to use -j <n> only when building
# set <n> to the number of distccd hosts
BUILD_MAKE_FLAGS=-j 4

3. Compile !
------------

Now try compiling some packages and run on another console :

$ distccmon-text 0.5

to see how the work is dispatched.