How much faster is compiling on linux?

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1

Hi,

Does anyone have numbers on how much faster linux compiles code compared to windows? I’m considering setting up a linux enviroment for building my project faster.

But just wanted to get a hint of how much an improvement it is? is it 2x? 5x? 10x?

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I’m not sure anyone has hard numbers on how much faster Linux is than Windows at compiling, but I have seen Windows take around 5-10x longer to compile, which is embarrassing when introducing people on Windows to Particle.

Setting up a Linux environment for local Particle Development is certainly worth it.

Particle Workbench will work on most distributions.

If you’re looking for a purely command-line solution I would recommend trying neopo, a tool I maintain that uses the same dependency system as Workbench.

You may find this thread useful:

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Particularly I wouldn’t expect to be that much different on Windows, but my 4th Gen Intel (i7-4810MQ) compiles a small project from scratch (DeviceOS + App) in 3m4s on native Linux (no VM).

But as developing for more firmware level stuff goes, Linux is normally a easier environment to use because all the tools are there!

I haven’t use the Windows Linux subsystem yet, but I believe you would probably get reasonable experience there too.

4

Yikes..

I'm getting just over 30 seconds on my six year old MBP running Linux in a VM. Neopo FTW

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Did a quick test.

Windows took 4 minutes and 30 seconds to compile device OS and application
Linux using WSL2 took 2 minutes and 30 seconds compile.

Both done with empty project. I havn’t tested with application code and with compile without cleaning the project, but it certainly feels a lot faster.

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Let me clarify that slightly… 30 seconds is my compile time with a small project after make clean. Never had a reason to compile the OS.

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Not bad!

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Just did some testing out of curiosity, both results done from a clean compile and timed with my phone’s stopwatch so give ± 1s on the results.

My Computer:

  • i9-9880H (8c 16t)
  • 16GB DDR4
  • Win 10 Enterprise Version 2004

Workbench Compile - 6 mintes 29 seconds
Neopo Compile using WSL2 and Debian 10.1 - 3 minutes 17 seconds

Not sure if I’m impressed or depressed tbh.

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9

Must be some parallel compile config somewhere… hahaha

I did a new run today with 2.0rc, got 2m35s, seems about right

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