Some tricks:
If you just want to test that the file you've been hacking
on compiles you can use make dir/path/file.o
Use the minimum config file for your machines,
except for occasional fuller verification builds
Set the right -j make level. You have to experiment
what is best.
Not enabling CONFIG_DEBUGINFO speeds up compilation significantly
When you use ccache make sure you have the cache directory on
the same partition and enable CCACHE_HARDLINK=1. Alternatively
what also works (but is a bit more expensive) is to put
the ccache cache on a SSD.
What works very well is to throw some money at it -- compilation
scales very well in a cluster. Get the cheapest quad core you can get
as an additional machine and use a tool like icecream
(http://en.opensuse.org/Icecream) to distribute the compilation.
You need special wrappers like
ftp://firstfloor.org/pub/ak/smallsrc/icecache.c to combine
icecream with ccache
I also found using the "gold" linker in latest binutils
speeds up builds because especially when you already
have parallel compilations the linker is often a bottleneck.
-Andi
--
ak@linux.intel.com -- Speaking for myself only.
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