Improving compile speeds on Linux

I rediscovered an old friend today, ccache. It is a compiler cache written by Andrew Tridgell of SAMBA fame.

It enhances (re-)compilation by maintaining a cache of previously built object files. This comes in very handy if you ever do:

make clean; make

Or as I do, switch between development lines or versions of a program to perform a test and then have to do a full recompile each time.

After installing it on Fedora:

# yum install ccache

I did:

# ln -s $(which ccache) /usr/local/bin/gcc
# ln -s $(which ccache) /usr/local/bin/g++
# ln -s $(which ccache) /usr/local/bin/cc

so that it would automatically be invoked in place of the non-caching compiler.