C++ links: Building, Build Systems, and Build Performance Optimization

Readings

Build Systems à la Carte
- Microsoft Research 2018
- Andrey Mokhov, Neil Mitchell, Simon Peyton Jones
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/build-systems-la-carte/
- https://github.com/snowleopard/build
- https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/andreymokhov/the-task-abstraction/
- https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/andreymokhov/build-systems-a-la-carte/
- https://icfp18.sigplan.org/event/icfp-2018-papers-build-systems-a-la-carte
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQVT6wiwCxM
- Build Systems à La Carte: Theory and Practice
  - Journal of Functional Programming 30 (2020)
  - Andrey Mokhov, Neil Mitchell, Simon Peyton Jones
  - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956796820000088
Build System Rules and Algorithms
- Mike Shal (2009)
- http://gittup.org/tup/build_system_rules_and_algorithms.pdf
- Build System Partial Updates - http://gittup.org/blog/2014/09/11-build-system-partial-updates/
Clobber Builds - Mike Shal
- Part 1 - Missing Dependencies - http://gittup.org/blog/2014/03/6-clobber-builds-part-1---missing-dependencies/
- Part 2 - Fixing Missing Dependencies - http://gittup.org/blog/2014/05/7-clobber-builds-part-2---fixing-missing-dependencies/
- Part 3 - Other Clobber Causes - http://gittup.org/blog/2014/06/8-clobber-builds-part-3---other-clobber-causes/
- Part 4 - Fixing Other Clobber Causes - http://gittup.org/blog/2015/03/13-clobber-builds-part-4---fixing-other-clobber-causes/
Correct, Efficient, and Tailored: The Future of Build Systems
- IEEE Software, vol. 35, no. 2, 2018
- G. Maudoux and K. Mens
- https://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MS.2018.111095025
The C++ Build Process Explained
- https://github.com/green7ea/cpp-compilation

Caching

Caching Function Calls Using Precise Dependencies
- Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI) 2000
- Allan Heydon, Roy Levin, Yuan Yu
- http://www.vestasys.org/doc/pubs/pldi-00-04-20.pdf
- Vesta Configuration Management System - http://www.vestasys.org/#publications
cHash: Detection of Redundant Compilations via AST Hashing
- USENIX Annual Technical Conference 2017
- Christian Dietrich, Valentin Rothberg, Ludwig Füracker, Andreas Ziegler, Daniel Lohmann
- https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc17/technical-sessions/presentation/dietrich
- cHash Compiler Plugins and related tools - https://github.com/luhsra/chash

Correctness

A Model for Detecting Faults in Build Specifications
- SPLASH 2020 OOPSLA
- Thodoris Sotiropoulos, Stefanos Chaliasos, Dimitris Mitropoulos, Diomidis Spinellis
- https://2020.splashcon.org/details/splash-2020-oopsla/20/A-Model-for-Detecting-Faults-in-Build-Specifications
- https://dimitro.gr/assets/papers/SCMS20.pdf
- BuildFS: A dynamic method for detecting faults in incremental and parallel builds
  - https://github.com/theosotr/buildfs
Detecting Incorrect Build Rules
- International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) 2019
- Nandor Licker, Andrew Rice
- https://2019.icse-conferences.org/details/icse-2019-Technical-Papers/82/Detecting-Incorrect-Build-Rules
- https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/288468
- mkcheck: Incremental Build Verification
  - https://github.com/nandor/mkcheck
Escaping Dependency Hell: Finding Build Dependency Errors with the Unified Dependency Graph
- International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA) 2020
- Gang Fan, Chengpeng Wang, Rongxin Wu, Qingkai Shi, Charles Zhang
- https://qingkaishi.github.io/public_pdfs/ISSTA20-VeriBuild.pdf
- https://veribuild.github.io/
- https://conf.researchr.org/details/issta-2020/issta-2020-papers/38/Escaping-Dependency-Hell-Finding-Build-Dependency-Errors-with-the-Unified-Dependency
Forward build systems, formally
- Certified Programs and Proofs (CPP) 2022
- Sarah Spall, Neil Mitchell, Sam Tobin-Hochstadt
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3497775.3503687
- https://popl22.sigplan.org/details/CPP-2022-papers/14/Forward-build-systems-formally
Identifying Bugs in Make and JVM-Oriented Builds
- 2020
- Thodoris Sotiropoulos, Stefanos Chaliasos, Dimitris Mitropoulos, Diomidis Spinellis
- https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.06881
Oops, My Tests Broke the Build: An Explorative Analysis of Travis CI with GitHub
- Mining Software Repositories (MSR) 2017
- M. Beller, G. Gousios, A. Zaidman
- http://www.gousios.gr/pub/tests-broke-build-explorative-analysis-travis-ci-github.pdf
- https://www.slideshare.net/inventitech/oops-my-tests-broke-the-build-an-explorative-analysis-of-travis-ci-with-github
Programmers’ Build Errors: A Case Study (at Google)
- International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) 2014
- Hyunmin Seo, Caitlin Sadowski, Sebastian Elbaum, Edward Aftandilian, Robert Bowdidge
- https://research.google.com/pubs/pub42184.html

Dependencies

Automatic Object Linkage, with Include Graphs (Source code sharing without static libraries)
- 2018; Thomas Young
- https://upcoder.com/19/automatic-object-linkage-with-include-graphs
Build Predictor: More Accurate Missed Dependency Prediction in Build Configuration Files
- Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2014)
- Bo Zhou, Xia Xin, David Lo, Xinyu Wang
- http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/davidlo/papers/compsac14-dependency.pdf
- https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Build-Predictor%3A-More-Accurate-Missed-Dependency-in-Zhou-Xia/a4d4b05c8594fc7358a89f0afffb7e405b65fa0d
Build Scripts with Perfect Dependencies
- SPLASH 2020 OOPSLA
- Sarah Spall, Neil Mitchell, Sam Tobin-Hochstadt
- https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.12737
- https://2020.splashcon.org/details/splash-2020-oopsla/45/Build-Scripts-with-Perfect-Dependencies
Program Repository
- LLVM with Program Repository Support - https://github.com/SNSystems/llvm-project-prepo
- Program Repository: What’s the Idea?
  - https://github.com/SNSystems/llvm-project-prepo/wiki
- Early Overview
  - https://github.com/SNSystems/llvm-project-prepo/wiki/Early-Overview
- Toy programming demo of a repository for statically compiled programs
  - 2016 US LLVM Developers' Meeting; Paul Bowen-Huggett
  - https://llvm.org/devmtg/2016-11/Slides/Bowen-Hugett-ToyProgrammingDemo.pdf
  - https://youtu.be/-pL94rqyQ6c
- Targeting a statically compiled program repository with LLVM
  - 2019 EuroLLVM Developers’ Meeting; Phil Camp, Russell Gallop
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlQyEBDnDJE
  - http://llvm.org/devmtg/2019-04/slides/Lightning-Camp-Program_Repo.pdf
- LLVM Build Times Using a Program Repository
  - https://www.snsystems.com/technology/tech-blog/llvm-build-times-using-a-program-repository
- Compile Faster with the Program Repository and ccache
  - 2020 European LLVM Developers Meeting; Ying Yi, Paul Bowen-Huggett
  - http://www.llvm.org/devmtg/2020-04/talks.html#LightningTalk_51
  - https://www.snsystems.com/technology/tech-blog/compile-faster-with-the-program-repository-and-ccache
mtime comparison considered harmful
- "tl;dr: Rebuilding a target because its mtime is older than the mtimes of its dependencies, like make does, is very error prone. redo does it better, and so can you."
- https://apenwarr.ca/log/20181113
Non-recursive Make Considered Harmful
- Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Haskell, 2016
- Andrey Mokhov, Neil Mitchell, Simon Peyton Jones, Simon Marlow
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/non-recursive-make-considered-harmful/
- https://simonmar.github.io/bib/shake-2016_abstract.html
Recursive Make Considered Harmful
- Journal of AUUG Inc, 19(1):14–25, 1998
- Peter Miller
- https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.20.2572&rank=1
- http://sites.e-advies.nl/nonrecursive-make.html
Using Active Learning to Find High-Fidelity Builds
- Mining Software Repositories (MSR) 2022
- Harshitha Menon, Konstantinos Parasyris, Todd Gamblin, Tom Scogland
- https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.05223
- https://conf.researchr.org/details/msr-2022/msr-2022-technical-papers/41/Using-Active-Learning-to-Find-High-Fidelity-Builds

Distributed

Build in the Cloud
- Accessing Source Code: http://google-engtools.blogspot.com/2011/06/build-in-cloud-accessing-source-code.html
- How the Build System works: http://google-engtools.blogspot.com/2011/08/build-in-cloud-how-build-system-works.html
- Distributing Build Steps: http://google-engtools.blogspot.com/2011/09/build-in-cloud-distributing-build-steps.html
- Distributing Build Outputs: http://google-engtools.blogspot.com/2011/10/build-in-cloud-distributing-build.html
CloudBuild: Microsoft’s Distributed and Caching Build Service
- International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) 2016
- Hamed Esfahani, Jonas Fietz, Qi Ke, Alexei Kolomiets, Erica Lan, Erik Mavrinac, Wolfram Schulte, Newton Sanches, Srikanth Kandula
- https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2889222
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/cloudbuild-microsofts-distributed-and-caching-build-service/
Distributed cloud builds for everyone
- https://blog.nelhage.com/post/distributed-builds-for-everyone/
- llama: A CLI for outsourcing computation to Amazon Lambda
  - https://github.com/nelhage/llama
From Laptop to Lambda: Outsourcing Everyday Jobs to Thousands of Transient Functional Containers
- 2019 USENIX Annual Technical Conference
- Sadjad Fouladi, Francisco Romero, Dan Iter, Qian Li, Shuvo Chatterjee, Christos Kozyrakis, Matei Zaharia, Keith Winstein
- https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc19/presentation/fouladi
- Outsourcing Everyday Jobs to Thousands of Cloud Functions with gg
  - https://www.usenix.org/system/files/login/articles/login_fall19_02_fouladi.pdf
- gg: The Stanford Builder
  - https://github.com/stanfordsnr/gg
Scalable Build Service System with Smart Scheduling Service
- International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA) 2020
- Kaiyuan Wang, Greg Tener, Vijay Gullapalli, Xin Huang, Ahmed Gad, Daniel Rall
- https://kaiyuanw.github.io/papers/paper24-issta20.pdf
- https://conf.researchr.org/details/issta-2020/issta-2020-papers/6/Scalable-Build-Service-System-with-Smart-Scheduling-Service

Incremental

A Sound and Optimal Incremental Build System with Dynamic Dependencies
- SPLASH 2015 OOPSLA
- Sebastian Erdweg, Moritz Lichter, Manuel Weiel
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsgLSDMLLTo
- https://2015.splashcon.org/event/oopsla2015-a-sound-and-optimal-incremental-build-system
Bringing Incremental Builds to Continuous Integration
- SaTToSE (Seminar Series on Advanced Techniques & Tools for Software Evolution) 2017
- Guillaume Maudoux and Kim Mens
- https://dial.uclouvain.be/pr/boreal/object/boreal:189543
- http://sattose.wdfiles.com/local--files/2017:schedule/SATToSE_2017_paper_3.pdf
Constructing Hybrid Incremental Compilers for Cross-Module Extensibility with an Internal Build System
- ‹Programming› 2020
- Jeff Smits, Gabriël Konat, Eelco Visser
- https://2020.programming-conference.org/details/programming-2020-papers/16/Constructing-Hybrid-Incremental-Compilers-for-Cross-Module-Extensibility-with-an-Inte
Detecting Build Dependency Errors in Incremental Builds
- International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA) 2024
- Jun Lyu, Shanshan Li, He Zhang, Yang Zhang, Guoping Rong, Manuel Rigger
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3650212.3652105
- https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.13295
Enabling Fine-Grained Incremental Builds by Making Compiler Stateful
- International Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization (CGO) 2024
- Ruobing Han, Jisheng Zhao, Hyesoon Kim
- https://conf.researchr.org/details/cgo-2024/cgo-2024-main-conference/27/Enabling-Fine-Grained-Incremental-Builds-by-Making-Compiler-Stateful
How does Google avoid clean builds?
- common failure modes affecting incremental builds that are often fixed by running clean builds
- https://jmmv.dev/2020/12/google-no-clean-builds.html
Incremental Whole Program Optimization and Compilation
- CGO 2017
- Patrick W. Sathyanathan, Wenlei He, Ten H. Tzen
- http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3049857
Riker: Always-Correct and Fast Incremental Builds from Simple Specifications
- 2022 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (ATC)
- Charlie Curtsinger, Daniel W. Barowy
- https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc22/presentation/curtsinger
- https://github.com/curtsinger-lab/riker
Scalable Incremental Building with Dynamic Task Dependencies
- Automated Software Engineering (ASE) 2018
- Gabriël Konat, Sebastian Erdweg, Eelco Visser
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3238147.3238196
- https://eelcovisser.org/post/306/scalable-incremental-building-with-dynamic-task-dependencies
- https://www.student.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/~xx00seba/publications/pie-scalable-incremental-build.pdf
Towards Efficient Build Ordering for Incremental Builds with Multiple Configurations
- ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE) 2024
- Jun Lyu, Shanshan Li, He Zhang, Lanxin Yang, Bohan Liu, Manuel Rigger
- https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3660774
- https://2024.esec-fse.org/details/fse-2024-research-papers/19/Towards-Efficient-Build-Ordering-for-Incremental-Builds-with-Multiple-Configurations

Reproducibility

An introduction to deterministic builds with C/C++
- https://blog.conan.io/2019/09/02/Deterministic-builds-with-C-C++.html
Automated Localization for Unreproducible Builds
- ICSE 2018
- Zhilei Ren, He Jiang, Jifeng Xuan, Zijiang Yang
- https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.06766
- https://blog.acolyer.org/2018/06/22/automated-localization-for-unreproducible-builds/
Deterministic builds with Clang and LLD
- http://blog.llvm.org/2019/11/deterministic-builds-with-clang-and-lld.html
Reproducible Builds — a set of software development practices that create an independently-verifiable path from source to binary code
- https://reproducible-builds.org/

Build Performance

Build Performance Readings

2 tips to make your C++ projects compile 3 times faster
- Tip #1: Distributing compilation load
- Tip #2: Using a distcc server container
- https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2019/05/15/2-tips-to-make-your-c-projects-compile-3-times-faster/
30% faster Windows builds with clang-cl and the new /Zc:dllexportInlines- flag
- http://blog.llvm.org/2018/11/30-faster-windows-builds-with-clang-cl_14.html
Anders Schau Knatten
- Another Reason to Avoid #includes in Headers
  - https://blog.knatten.org/2012/11/09/another-reason-to-avoid-includes-in-headers/
- How to avoid includes in headers
  - https://blog.knatten.org/2012/11/30/how-to-avoid-includes-in-headers/
Aras Pranckevičius
- Unreasonable Effectiveness of Profilers (profiling the build system) - http://aras-p.info/blog/2017/08/08/Unreasonable-Effectiveness-of-Profilers/
- Forced Inlining Might Be Slow - https://aras-p.info/blog/2017/10/09/Forced-Inlining-Might-Be-Slow/
- Best unknown MSVC flag: d2cgsummary - https://aras-p.info/blog/2017/10/23/Best-unknown-MSVC-flag-d2cgsummary/
- Slow to Compile Table Initializers - https://aras-p.info/blog/2017/10/24/Slow-to-Compile-Table-Initializers/
- Investigating compile times, and Clang -ftime-report - http://aras-p.info/blog/2019/01/12/Investigating-compile-times-and-Clang-ftime-report/
- Another cool MSVC flag: /d1reportTime
  - http://aras-p.info/blog/2019/01/21/Another-cool-MSVC-flag-d1reportTime/
  - Reports where the compiler frontend spends time.
  - Passing /d1reportTime to the MSVC compiler (cl.exe) will make it print:
    - Which header files are included (hierarchically), with time taken for each,
    - Which classes are being parsed, with time taken for each,
    - Which functions are being parsed, with time taken for each.
Big Project Build Times–Chromium
- https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/big-project-build-times-chromium/
Build Throughput Series
- Template Metaprogramming Fundamentals
  - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/build-throughput-series-template-metaprogramming-fundamentals/
- More Efficient Template Metaprogramming
  - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/build-throughput-series-more-efficient-template-metaprogramming/
C++ Compilation Speed
- Walter Bright - DDJ, August 17, 2010
- https://digitalmars.com/articles/b54.html
- http://www.drdobbs.com/cpp/c-compilation-speed/228701711
C++ Compilation: Fixing It
- http://virtuallyrandom.com/c-compilation-fixing-it/
Faster C++ builds
- http://www.bitsnbites.eu/faster-c-builds/
Identifying and Understanding Header File Hotspots in C/C++ Build Processes
- Automated Software Engineering, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2016
- Shane McIntosh, Bram Adams, Meiyappan Nagappan, Ahmed E. Hassan
- http://rebels.ece.mcgill.ca/journalpaper/2015/07/08/identifying-and-understanding-header-file-hotspots-in-c-cpp-build-processes.html
Improving C++ Builds with Split DWARF
- https://www.productive-cpp.com/improving-cpp-builds-with-split-dwarf/
Improving Compilation Time of C/C++ Projects
- https://interrupt.memfault.com/blog/improving-compilation-times-c-cpp-projects
Investigating C++ compile times
- My journey investigating slow compile times in C++
  - https://metanokid.github.io/coding-scars/investigating-cpp-compile-times-0
- Useful tools to investigate C++ compile times
  - https://metanokid.github.io/coding-scars/investigating-cpp-compile-times-1
- Understanding MSBuild to create flame graphs
  - https://metanokid.github.io/coding-scars/investigating-cpp-compile-times-2
- Improving C++ compile times using flame graphs
  - https://metanokid.github.io/coding-scars/investigating-cpp-compile-times-3
- Getting data from C++ Build Insights SDK
  - https://metanokid.github.io/coding-scars/investigating-cpp-compile-times-4
Native Build System for Unity Builds with Sophisticated Bundle Strategies
- IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems 104.1 (2021)
- Takafumi Kubota, Kenji Kono
- https://doi.org/10.1587/transinf.2020EDP7105
Optimizing the unoptimizable: a journey to faster C++ compile times
- 2024-01-06; Victor Zverovich
- https://vitaut.net/posts/2024/faster-cpp-compile-times/
Physical Design of The Machinery
- http://ourmachinery.com/post/physical-design/
Precompiled headers
- 2023; MaskRay (Fangrui Song)
- https://maskray.me/blog/2023-07-16-precompiled-headers
Reducing Build Time through Precompilations for Evolving Large Software
- International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM) 2005
- Yu, Yijun; Dayani-Fard, Homayoun; Mylopoulos, John and Andritsos, Periklis
- http://www.cs.toronto.edu/%7Eperiklis/pubs/icsm05.pdf
- http://oro.open.ac.uk/6944/
Taking a Closer Look: An Outlier-Driven Approach to Compilation-Time Optimization
- 2024 European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP)
- Florian Huemer, David Leopoldseder, Aleksandar Prokopec, Raphael Mosaner, Hanspeter Mössenböck
- https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.ECOOP.2024.20
- https://2024.ecoop.org/details/ecoop-2024-papers/24/Taking-a-Closer-Look-An-Outlier-Driven-Approach-to-Compilation-Time-Optimization
The Little Things: Speeding up C++ compilation
- https://codingnest.com/the-little-things-speeding-up-c-compilation/
To Unify or Not to Unify: A Case Study on Unified Builds (in WebKit)
- Compiler Construction (CC) 2019
- Takafumi Kubota, Yusuke Suzuki, and Kenji Kono
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3302516.3307347

Build Performance Software

Cotire (compile time reducer)
- a CMake module that speeds up the build process of CMake based build systems by fully automating techniques as precompiled header usage and single compilation unit builds for C and C++.
- https://github.com/sakra/cotire

Benchmarking and Profiling

C++ Build Benchmarks
- https://build-bench.com/
- Docker runner for build-bench
  - https://github.com/FredTingaud/bench-runner
C++ Compile Health Watchdog
- Benchmark and accountability tool for C++ compile-time overhead / compile-time health.
- https://github.com/Philip-Trettner/cpp-compile-overhead
- Results: https://artificial-mind.net/projects/compile-health/
Clang -ftime-trace and ftime-trace-granularity=N
- http://releases.llvm.org/9.0.0/tools/clang/docs/ReleaseNotes.html#new-compiler-flags
- Clang Time Trace Feature
  - https://www.snsystems.com/technology/tech-blog/clang-time-trace-feature
- Clang Build Analyzer
  - Clang build analysis tool using -ftime-trace
  - https://github.com/aras-p/ClangBuildAnalyzer
  - https://aras-p.info/blog/2019/09/28/Clang-Build-Analyzer/
  - time-trace: timeline / flame chart profiler for Clang
    - https://aras-p.info/blog/2019/01/16/time-trace-timeline-flame-chart-profiler-for-Clang/
compile-time-perf: Measures high-level timing and memory usage metrics during compilation
- compile-time-perf (CTP) is designed to be a high-level "profiler" for compiling large projects. It is designed to be simple to install, compiler and language agnostic, and included as part of CI. It is not intended to replace compiler flags like -ftime-trace but supplement them.
- https://github.com/jrmadsen/compile-time-perf
CompileScore: Visual Studio extension and standalone app for build times and compilation data visualization
- https://github.com/Viladoman/CompileScore
ctbench: Compile-time benchmark and analysis for Clang
- https://github.com/JPenuchot/ctbench
- ctbench: compile time benchmarking for Clang - Jules Pénuchot - CPPP 2021
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZY6skM0Rc
  - https://github.com/CpppFr/CPPP-21/tree/main/ctbench_compile_time_benchmarking_for_clang-jules_p%C3%A9nuchot
CTMark (Compile Time Mark)
- https://github.com/llvm-mirror/test-suite/tree/master/CTMark
Metabench: A simple framework for compile-time microbenchmarks
- http://metaben.ch/
- https://github.com/ldionne/metabench
Templight: Template Instantiation Profiler and Debugger
- a Clang-based tool to profile the time and memory consumption of template instantiations and to perform interactive debugging sessions to gain introspection into the template instantiation process
- https://github.com/mikael-s-persson/templight
- Use templight and Templar to debug C++ templates
  - https://baptiste-wicht.com/posts/2016/02/use-templight-and-templar-to-debug-cpp-templates.html
- Templight: A Clang Extension for Debugging and Profiling C++ Template Metaprograms
  - 2015 EuroLLVM Developers’ Meeting, Zoltan Porkolab
  - https://llvm.org/devmtg/2015-04/slides/EuroLLVM2015Templight.pdf
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djAPtopWhRU
Visual C++
- vcperf: A build analysis tool for the MSVC toolchain
  - https://github.com/microsoft/vcperf
- CPP-LIT: C++ Library Include Times
  - Time to #include standard library and other C++ headers
  - https://github.com/s9w/cpp-lit
- MSBuild Flame Graph: Turns MSBuild executions into flame graphs
  - https://github.com/MetanoKid/msbuild-flame-graph
- C++ Build Analyzer: Analyzes MSVC C++ compilations with C++ Build Insights SDK
  - https://github.com/MetanoKid/cpp-build-analyzer
- C++ Build Insights
  - Code samples for the C++ Build Insights SDK
    - https://github.com/microsoft/cpp-build-insights-samples
  - Get started with C++ Build Insights
    - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build-insights/get-started-with-cpp-build-insights
  - Introducing C++ Build Insights
    - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/introducing-c-build-insights/
  - Analyze your builds programmatically with the C++ Build Insights SDK
    - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/analyze-your-builds-programmatically-with-the-c-build-insights-sdk/
  - Finding build bottlenecks with C++ Build Insights
    - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/finding-build-bottlenecks-with-cpp-build-insights/
  - Faster builds with PCH suggestions from C++ Build Insights
    - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/faster-builds-with-pch-suggestions-from-c-build-insights/
  - Improving code generation time with C++ Build Insights
    - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/improving-code-generation-time-with-cpp-build-insights/
  - Introducing vcperf /timetrace for C++ build time analysis
    - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/introducing-vcperf-timetrace-for-cpp-build-time-analysis/
  - Faster C++ builds, simplified: a new metric for time
    - the wall clock time responsibility (WCTR): can be used to estimate how much time is really spent by each activity in your build, even in the presence of parallelism.
    - https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/faster-cpp-builds-simplified-a-new-metric-for-time/

Caching

BuildCache: A build cache
- https://github.com/mbitsnbites/buildcache
ccache: A Fast C/C++ Compiler Cache
- https://ccache.samba.org
distcc: A free distributed C/C++ compiler system
- https://github.com/distcc/distcc
icecream: Distributed compiler with a central scheduler to share build load
- https://github.com/icecc/icecream
recc: Remote Execution Caching Compiler: a cross between ccache and distcc using the Remote Execution APIs
- https://buildgrid.gitlab.io/recc/
- https://gitlab.com/BuildGrid/recc
sccache - Shared Compilation Cache
- https://github.com/mozilla/sccache

Dependencies Analysis and Optimization

cpp-dependencies: Tool to check C++ #include dependencies (dependency graphs created in .dot format)
- https://github.com/tomtom-international/cpp-dependencies
Header Hero: optimizing C++ codebase header #include dependencies
- A tool for optimizing C++ header files and reducing build times.
- https://github.com/niklas-ourmachinery/bitsquid-header-hero
- https://bitsquid.blogspot.com/2011/10/caring-by-sharing-header-hero.html
- https://aras-p.info/blog/2018/01/17/Header-Hero-Improvements/
include-what-you-use
- A tool for use with clang to analyze #includes in C and C++ source files
- https://include-what-you-use.org/
- https://github.com/include-what-you-use/include-what-you-use

Build Performance Talks

Common-sense acceleration of your MLOC build
- CppCon 2014; Matt Hargett
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4M3yG1dWho
Compiling C++ is slow - let's go faster
- StockholmCpp 2020; Tobias Hieta
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4pyOtawqjg
- https://gist.github.com/tru/ad677ba2b1d543e238b0e09eb3aad3ac
Improving C++ Compilation Times: Tools & Techniques
- ACCU 2023
- Vittorio Romeo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfHD3BsVsAM
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vittorioromeo/corecpp2023/main/improving_compilation_times_corecpp2023.pdf
LLVM Compile-Time: Challenges. Improvements. Outlook.
- 2017 LLVM Developers’ Meeting; Michael Zolotukhin
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYHMwyyZ6Mk
Optimizing builds on Windows
- 2019 LLVM Developers’ Meeting; Alexandre Ganea
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usPL_DROn4k
- https://llvm.org/devmtg/2019-10/slides/Ganea-OptimizingBuildesOnWindows.pdf
Optimizing compilation times with Templates
- CppCon 2017: Eddie Elizondo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPWQ7xKfIHQ
- https://github.com/eduardo-elizondo/cppcon2017
Practical Techniques for Improving C++ Build Times
- CppCon 2017; Dmitry Panin
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8UoYG4dvH8
Reducing C++ Compilation Times Through Good Design
- Andrew Pearcy and Jeffrey So
- ACCU 2024
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItcGevumW-8
- using std::cpp 2024
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afc6Cjk0gJk
The Hitchhiker's Guide to Faster Builds
- Viktor Kirilov
- slides: https://slides.com/onqtam/faster_builds
- CppOnSea 2019 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anbOy47fBYI
- C++ Russia 2019 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rRLHRRqg5A
- code::dive 2018
  - Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSFbNhCbdJM
  - Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-Y5JnJlypM

Software

Build System Shootout: Comparison of build program expressive power
- https://github.com/ndmitchell/build-shootout
Bear: Build EAR - a tool that generates a compilation database for Clang tooling
- https://github.com/rizsotto/Bear
blight: a framework for wrapping and instrumenting build tools
- https://github.com/trailofbits/blight
- High-fidelity build instrumentation with blight
  - https://blog.trailofbits.com/2020/11/25/high-fidelity-build-instrumentation-with-blight/
Build Interceptor
- a collection of scripts for recording the .i files generated during a build of C or C++ programs with the GCC toolchain
- https://github.com/dsw/build-interceptor
build-bom: Dynamically discover the commands used to create a piece of software
- https://github.com/travitch/build-bom
Compilation Database
- JSON Compilation Database Format Specification
  - https://clang.llvm.org/docs/JSONCompilationDatabase.html
- Compilation Database Tips Documentation - Guillaume Papin "Sarcasm"
  - https://sarcasm.github.io/notes/dev/compilation-database.html
- compdb: the Compilation Database Swiss Army Knife
  - https://github.com/Sarcasm/compdb
- Build your first Clang compilation database plugin
  - FOSDEM 2024
  - Pascal Jungblut
  - https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-2706-build-your-first-clang-compilation-database-plugin/
TraceCode: Trace a build to find out which source files are built in a binary
- https://github.com/nexB/tracecode-toolkit
- Debug your build by tracing and reversing: stracing your build from sources to binaries
  - https://fosdem.org/2018/schedule/event/debugging_tools_stracing_build/

Autotools

Autoconf / Automake Basics
- Mark K. Kim; Linux Users' Group of Davis. March 2, 2004.
- https://www.lugod.org/presentations/autotools/presentation/autotools.pdf
Autotools Mythbuster
- "Autotools Mythbuster is a no-nonsense guide to Autotools, written with the idea of providing a full, integrated view of the tools in the GNU build chain: autoconf, automake, libtool, pkg-config, and so on."
- https://autotools.io/
Autotools Tutorial
- https://www.lrde.epita.fr/~adl/autotools.html
Autotools Tutorial for Beginners
- http://markuskimius.wikidot.com/programming:tut:autotools
Autotools, 2nd Edition
- A Practitioner's Guide to GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool
- 2019; John Calcote
- https://nostarch.com/autotools2e
- Chapter 2: A Brief Introduction to the GNU Autotools
  - https://nostarch.com/download/samples/Autotools2e_Sample_Ch2.pdf
Autotools: A Demystification Tutorial
Autotools: a practitioner's guide to Autoconf, Automake and Libtool
- http://freesoftwaremagazine.com/books/autotools_a_guide_to_autoconf_automake_libtool/
Four Languages and Lots of Macros: Analyzing Autotools Build Systems
- GPCE 2017
- Jafar M. Al-Kofahi, Suresh Kothari, Christian Kästner
- https://conf.researchr.org/event/gpce-2017/gpce-2017-gpce-2017-four-languages-and-lots-of-macros-analyzing-autotools-build-systems
- https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ckaestne/pdf/gpce17.pdf
GNU Autoconf: A uniform means of creating makefiles at build time
- Ethan McCallum - C/C++ Users Journal, January 2006
- https://web.archive.org/http://www.drdobbs.com/gnu-autoconf/184402060
- https://web.archive.org/http://collaboration.cmc.ec.gc.ca/science/rpn/biblio/ddj/Website/articles/CUJ/2006/0601/0601mccallum/0601mccallum.html
GNU Autoconf, Automake and Libtool
- https://www.sourceware.org/autobook/
Minimal autotools template for C++11/14 projects
- https://github.com/mpoullet/autotools-cpp-template
Minimal autotools template for C/C++ library projects
- https://github.com/mpoullet/autotools-lib-template

Bazel

Bazel: a fast, scalable, multi-language and extensible build system
- https://bazel.build/
- https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel
Awesome Bazel: A curated list of Bazel rules, tooling and resources.
- https://github.com/jin/awesome-bazel
bazel-tools: Tools for dealing with very large Bazel-managed repositories
- https://github.com/spotify/bazel-tools
Bazel How to build at Google scale?
- FOSDEM 2017; Klaus Aehlig
- https://archive.fosdem.org/2017/schedule/event/bazel/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOUwu0myF8M
External C++ dependency management in Bazel
- https://medium.com/@htuch/external-c-dependency-management-in-bazel-dd37477422f5
Faster Bazel builds with remote caching: a benchmark
- https://nicolovaligi.com/faster-bazel-remote-caching-benchmark.html
Your Build in a Datacenter: Remote Caching and Execution in Bazel
- FOSDEM 2018; Jakob Buchgraber
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrTun05W5g4
- https://fosdem.org/2018/schedule/event/datacenter_build/

Boost.Build

Boost.Build - http://www.boost.org/build/
Understanding Boost.Build
- C++Now 2016; Steven Watanabe
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yc7ZvU0yOw
- https://github.com/boostcon/cppnow_presentations_2016/blob/master/03_friday/understanding_boost_build.pdf
Complete Overview on Boost.Jam and Boost.Build
- BoostCon 2011; Boris Schaeling
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgYwvzUUupM
- https://github.com/boostcon/2011_presentations/raw/master/mon/Boost.Build.pdf

Buck2

Buck2: A large-scale build tool
- C++, Python, Rust, Erlang, OCaml
- https://buck2.build/
- https://github.com/facebook/buck2
- https://engineering.fb.com/2023/04/06/open-source/buck2-open-source-large-scale-build-system/

build2

build2: C++ Build Toolchain
- https://build2.org/
- https://github.com/build2/
C++ Dependency Management: from Package Consumption to Project Development
- CppCon 2018; Boris Kolpackov
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nni2Qu2WitY

CMake

Awesome CMake
- A curated list of awesome CMake scripts, modules, examples and others
- https://github.com/onqtam/awesome-cmake

CMake Examples

C++/CMake modern boilerplate
- https://github.com/Lectem/cpp-boilerplate
CMake: config mode of find_package command (examples)
- https://github.com/forexample/package-example
CMake cookbook recipes
- https://github.com/dev-cafe/cmake-cookbook
CMake Examples
- https://github.com/ttroy50/cmake-examples
cpp_starter_project: A template CMake project to get you started with C++ and tooling
- https://github.com/lefticus/cpp_starter_project/
learning-cmake: a simple CMake tutorial project which contains some different scenarios
- https://github.com/Akagi201/learning-cmake
Modern CMake Examples
- https://github.com/pr0g/cmake-examples
Polly: Collection of CMake toolchain files and scripts for cross-platform build and CI testing (GCC, Visual Studio, iOS, Android, Clang analyzer, sanitizers etc.)
- https://github.com/ruslo/polly

CMake Readings

Alex Reinking
- Building a Dual Shared and Static Library with CMake
  - https://alexreinking.com/blog/building-a-dual-shared-and-static-library-with-cmake.html
  - https://github.com/alexreinking/SharedStaticStarter
- How to Use CMake Without the Agonizing Pain
  - https://alexreinking.com/blog/how-to-use-cmake-without-the-agonizing-pain-part-1.html
  - https://alexreinking.com/blog/how-to-use-cmake-without-the-agonizing-pain-part-2.html
An Introduction to Modern CMake
- https://cliutils.gitlab.io/modern-cmake/
Basic CMake usage
- https://codingnest.com/basic-cmake/
CGold: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the CMake
- https://cgold.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
CMake 3.16 added support for precompiled headers & unity builds - what you need to know
- http://onqtam.com/programming/2019-12-20-pch-unity-cmake-3-16/
CMake Coding Style
- https://community.kde.org/Policies/CMake_Coding_Style
Dev Santa Claus - Nick Sarten
- Part 1: Adding Clang Sanitizers to a CMake Build
  - https://genbattle.bitbucket.io/blog/2018/01/05/Dev-Santa-Claus-Part-1/
- Part 2: C++ code coverage metrics with gcov
  - setting up code coverage metrics for a C++ codebase built using Bamboo, CMake, and GCC
  - https://genbattle.bitbucket.io/blog/2018/01/19/Dev-Santa-Claus-Part-2/
Effective CMake by Kai Wolf
- http://effective-cmake.com
- https://leanpub.com/effective-cmake
Effective Modern CMake - Manuel Binna
- https://gist.github.com/mbinna/c61dbb39bca0e4fb7d1f73b0d66a4fd1
Everything You Never Wanted to Know About CMake
- https://izzys.casa/2019/02/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-cmake/
Everything You Never Wanted to Know About CMake (Redux)
- https://izzys.casa/2023/06/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-cmake-redux/
How to Build a CMake-Based Project
- http://preshing.com/20170511/how-to-build-a-cmake-based-project/
How To Find Packages With CMake: The Basics
- https://dev.to/slurpsmadrips/how-to-find-packages-with-cmake-the-basics-ikk
It's Time To Do CMake Right
- https://pabloariasal.github.io/2018/02/19/its-time-to-do-cmake-right/
Learn CMake's Scripting Language in 15 Minutes
- http://preshing.com/20170522/learn-cmakes-scripting-language-in-15-minutes/
Mastering CMake Book
- https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/mastering-cmake
More Modern CMake
- https://hsf-training.github.io/hsf-training-cmake-webpage/
Professional CMake: A Practical Guide
- https://crascit.com/professional-cmake/
siliceum - Clément Grégoire
- CMake basics
  - https://www.siliceum.com/en/blog/post/cmake_01_cmake-basics
- CMake customization points
  - https://www.siliceum.com/en/blog/post/cmake_02_customization-points
Speed up your C++ unit tests cycles with CMake/CTest (and the right testing framework)
- https://a4z.bitbucket.io/blog/2018/05/17/Speed-up-your-test-cycles-with-CMake.html
The Architecture of Open Source Applications: CMake
- http://www.aosabook.org/en/cmake.html
The Ultimate Guide to Modern CMake
- https://rix0r.nl/blog/2015/08/13/cmake-guide/
Tutorial: Easy dependency management for C++ with CMake and Git
- http://foonathan.net/blog/2016/07/07/cmake-dependency-handling.html
Tutorial: Preparing libraries for CMake FetchContent
- https://www.foonathan.net/2022/06/cmake-fetchcontent/
Using ccache with CMake
- https://crascit.com/2016/04/09/using-ccache-with-cmake/

CMake Software

BLT (Build, Link and Triumph): A streamlined CMake build system foundation for developing HPC software
- composition of CMake macros and several widely used open source tools assembled to simplify HPC software development.
- https://github.com/llnl/blt
- http://llnl-blt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
CMake Unit
- A unit testing framework for CMake.
- https://github.com/polysquare/cmake-unit
CMakeBuildPackage: Automatic project build script with CMake
- https://github.com/berenm/CMakeBuildPackage
cmake format: Source code formatter for cmake listfiles.
- https://github.com/cheshirekow/cmake_format
cmake-init: The missing CMake project initializer
- https://github.com/friendlyanon/cmake-init/
cmake-tipi-provider: Automatic build caching and SBOM generation for CMake FetchContent
- https://github.com/tipi-build/cmake-tipi-provider
CMake Modules
- Additional CMake Modules
  - https://github.com/bilke/cmake-modules
- Ryan's CMake Modules
  - https://github.com/rpavlik/cmake-modules
CMake SBOM generation: Guided SBOM generation from CMake
- CMake module that helps generating (Produce (Build)) an NTIA-compliant Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) in SPDX for an arbitrary CMake project
- https://github.com/DEMCON/cmake-sbom
cmany: CMake build tree batching tool
- https://github.com/biojppm/cmany
configure-cmake: autotools-style configure script wrapper around CMake
- https://github.com/nemequ/configure-cmake
Corrosion: Marrying Rust and CMake - Easy Rust and C/C++ Integration!
- Corrosion, formerly known as cmake-cargo, is a tool for integrating Rust into an existing CMake project. Corrosion is capable of importing executables, static libraries, and dynamic libraries from a crate.
- https://github.com/corrosion-rs/corrosion
CPM.cmake
- CMake's missing package manager. A small CMake script for setup-free, cross-platform and reproducible dependency management.
- https://github.com/TheLartians/CPM.cmake
Izzy's eXtension Modules: Make CMake less painful when trying to write Modern Flexible CMake
- https://github.com/slurps-mad-rips/ixm
package-example: CMake: config mode of find_package command
- https://github.com/forexample/package-example
sanitizers-cmake: CMake module to enable sanitizers for binary targets
- https://github.com/arsenm/sanitizers-cmake
ucm - useful cmake macros
- https://github.com/onqtam/ucm

CMake Talks

CMake Talks: 2024

Integrating C++ Code Generation Into a Large CMake Build
- ACCU 2024; CB Bailey
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCuH4cHPJ78
Modern CMake for C++
- 2024-09-17 San Diego C++ Meetup #66
- Kobi Cohen-Arazi
- https://vorbrodt.blog/2024/09/21/san-diego-c-meetup-66-modern-cmake-for-c/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnUALZe7FhI

CMake Talks: 2022

CMake 2022 C++ Modules and More
- CppNow 2022; Bill Hoffman
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkefPcWySzI
import CMake, CMake and C++20 Modules
- CppCon 2022; Bill Hoffman
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X803cXe02Y
Things I Learnt While Trying to Avoid Becoming a CMake Expert
- ACCU 2022; CB Bailey
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=852VSXFaDO0

CMake Talks: 2021

An Introduction to CMakePresets.json
- Pure Virtual C++ 2021; Erika Sweet, Kyle Edwards
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFbnm1t6Mc4
- https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/CPP/Pure-Virtual-Cpp-2021/An-Introduction-to-CMakePresetsjson
Better CMake - Jefferson Amstutz
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8i3OhJb4FNV10aIZ8oF0AA46HgA2ed8g
CMake and the Future of C++
- Meeting C++ 2021; Julien Jomier
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm3i40FrU3U
CMake: One Tool To Build Them All
- C++Now 2021; Bill Hoffman
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wULu83jQmIQ
- https://cppnow.digital-medium.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CMake-One-Tool-To-Build-Them-All-CppNow.pdf
Cross Compiling with CMake
- Cpp Usergroup Dresden 2021; Andreas Reischuck
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgWwrzZLVR8
Cross-Platform Development with CMake
- CPPP 2021; Julien Jomier
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSWEZaOtr7c
Modern CMake Modules
- CppCon 2021
- Bret Brown
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZXNsim9TWI

CMake Talks: 2020

C++ Weekly - Jason Turner
- Ep 208 - The Ultimate CMake / C++ Quick Start (2020)
  - "CMake, sanitizers, clang-tidy, conan, cmake-format, clang-format, cppcheck, doxygen, ctest, catch, {fmt}, and more!"
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbgH7yat-Jo
Modern CMake: An introduction
- DC C++ User Group 2020; Eric Richardson
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDdkJu-nVTo

CMake Talks: 2019

Deep CMake for Library Authors
- CppCon 2019; Craig Scott
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0DwB4OvDXk
Embracing Modern CMake
- Stephen Kelly
- https://steveire.wordpress.com/2017/11/05/embracing-modern-cmake/
- Dublin C++ User Group 2017
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsjI5xr1jxM
- NDC TechTown 2019
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn1ZnO3MtVk
Oh No! More Modern CMake
- Meeting C++ 2019; Deniz Bahadir
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9kSr5enrSk
- https://github.com/Bagira80/More-Modern-CMake

CMake Talks: 2018

Building C++
- C++ Edinburgh 2018; Morris Hafner
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_f-2p5eDBo
How to CMake Good
Introduction to CMake
- SwedenCpp 2018; Florent Castelli
- Examples:
  - https://bit.ly/swedencpp-cmake-workshop
  - https://github.com/Orphis/cmake-workshop
- Slides:
  - https://bit.ly/swedencpp-cmake-slides
  - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vIEfCE33-1BEMT1nNQQbhe-1va-3m2pL9c6_WrIIjdU/
- Video:
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt3meXdP-QI
More Modern CMake - Working with CMake 3.12 and later
- Meeting C++ 2018; Deniz Bahadir
- https://meetingcpp.com/2018/Talks/items/More_Modern_CMake___Working_with_CMake_3_12_and_later.html
- https://meetingcpp.com/mcpp/slides/2018/MoreModernCMake.pdf
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7ndUhdQuU8

CMake Talks: 2017

C++ Weekly - Jason Turner
- Ep 78 - Intro to CMake (2017)
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPMvU64RUTY
  - https://github.com/lefticus/cpp_starter_project
- Ep 82 - Intro To CTest (2017)
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlMbqFcJEzA
Effective CMake
- Daniel Pfeifer
- C++Now 2017
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsXLMQ6WgIk
  - https://github.com/boostcon/cppnow_presentations_2017/raw/master/05-19-2017_friday/effective_cmake__daniel_pfeifer__cppnow_05-19-2017.pdf
- MUCplusplus 2017
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLopVhns4Zs
Effective dependency management with CMake
- MUCplusplus 2017; Kai Wolf
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QayyhI-36os
Modern CMake for modular design
- Meeting C++ 2017; Mathieu Ropert
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztrnb-bVVPo
Using Modern CMake Patterns to Enforce a Good Modular Design
- CppCon 2017; Mathieu Ropert
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC9-iRN2b04

FASTBuild

FASTBuild
- a high performance, open-source build system for Windows, Linux, and OS X
- supports highly scalable compilation, caching and network distribution
- https://github.com/fastbuild/fastbuild
- https://www.fastbuild.org/

Gradle

https://gradle.org/
Introduction into C++ Builds with Gradle
- https://thoughts-on-cpp.com/2019/04/10/introduction-into-c-builds-with-gradle/

Make

A more helpful makefile
- https://jakemccrary.com/blog/2018/12/27/a-more-helpful-makefile/
A Super-Simple Makefile for Medium-Sized C/C++ Projects
- https://spin.atomicobject.com/2016/08/26/makefile-c-projects/
A Tutorial on Portable Makefiles
- http://nullprogram.com/blog/2017/08/20/
make help - Well documented Makefiles
- https://www.thapaliya.com/en/writings/well-documented-makefiles/
Makefile Tutorial
- https://gist.github.com/isaacs/62a2d1825d04437c6f08
Notes for new Make users
- http://gromnitsky.users.sourceforge.net/articles/notes-for-new-make-users/
Propositions as Filenames, Builds as Proofs: The Essence of Make
- https://bentnib.org/posts/2015-04-17-propositions-as-filenames-essence-of-make.html
Public domain POSIX make
- https://frippery.org/make/

GNU Make

GNU Make - http://www.gnu.org/software/make/
- Manual - https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/
An Empirical Analysis of GNU Make in Open Source Projects
- 2017 PhD Thesis; Douglas Martin
- https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/15767
- Makefile Corpus - http://research.cs.queensu.ca/~doug/files/MakeEgs.tar.gz
- Makefile Framework - http://research.cs.queensu.ca/~doug/files/MakeFramework.zip
An Empirical Study of Unspecified Dependencies in Make-Based Build Systems
- Empirical Software Engineering (2017)
- Cor-Paul Bezemer, Shane McIntosh, Bram Adams, Daniel M. German, Ahmed E. Hassan
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-017-9510-8
- http://rebels.ece.mcgill.ca/journalpaper/2017/03/07/an-empirical-study-of-unspecified-dependencies-in-make-based-build-systems.html
- http://sail.cs.queensu.ca/Downloads/EMSE2017_AnEmpiricalStudyOfUnspecifiedDependenciesInMake-BasedBuildSystems.pdf
- Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/corpaulbezemer/an-empirical-study-of-unspecified-dependencies-in-makebased-build-systems
GNU make - Paul D. Smith - http://make.mad-scientist.net/
- Paul Smith's Rules of Makefiles - http://make.mad-scientist.net/papers/rules-of-makefiles/
- Deferred Simple Variable Expansion - http://make.mad-scientist.net/deferred-simple-variable-expansion/
GNU Make articles - John Graham-Cumming
GNU Make meets file names with spaces in them - https://www.cmcrossroads.com/article/gnu-make-meets-file-names-spaces-them
GNU Make Standard Library - http://gmsl.sourceforge.net/
How to write vaguely acceptable makefiles
- 2014; Stephen Kell
- https://www.humprog.org/~stephen/blog/devel/writing-makefiles.html
HOWTO: Intro to GNU make variables - https://blog.melski.net/2015/01/07/howto-intro-to-gnu-make-variables/
Make is (probably) fine
- https://blog.yossarian.net/2019/04/23/Make-is-probably-fine
Make it simple: An empirical analysis of GNU Make feature use in open source projects
- International Conference on Program Comprehension 2015
- Douglas H Martin, James R Cordy, Bram Adams, Giulio Antoniol
- https://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/ICPC.2015.31
- https://research.cs.queensu.ca/home/cordy/Papers/MCAA_ICPC15_Makefiles.pdf
Managing Projects with GNU Make
Properly using GNU-Make - https://slashvar.github.io/2017/02/13/using-gnu-make.html
Remake – GNU Make with comprehensible tracing and a debugger
- http://bashdb.sourceforge.net/remake/
- https://github.com/rocky/remake
Your Makefiles are wrong: An opinionated approach to (GNU) Make
- 2019; Jacob Davis-Hansson
- https://tech.davis-hansson.com/p/make/
Using Landlock to Sandbox GNU Make
- https://justine.lol/make/
- https://github.com/jart/landlock-make

Meson

The Meson Build system
Getting started with Meson build system and C++
Lessons Learned From Porting LibreOffice's Build System To Meson
- CppNorth 2022; Jussi Pakkanen
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asB_hx_jJSw

Ninja

Ninja: a small build system with a focus on speed
- https://ninja-build.org/
- https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja
Benchmarking the Ninja build system
- http://david.rothlis.net/ninja-benchmark/
Building Like (a) Ninja [Pt1]
- https://vector-of-bool.github.io/2018/12/20/build-like-ninja-1.html
GN: a meta-build system that generates build files for Ninja
- https://gn.googlesource.com/gn
- https://is.gd/gn_intro
- Basic //build directory for GN-based projects
  - https://github.com/timniederhausen/gn-build
ninjatracing: Convert .ninja_log files to chrome's about:tracing format.
- https://github.com/nico/ninjatracing
Ninja is enough build system
- November 4, 2023; Max Bernstein
- https://bernsteinbear.com/blog/ninja-is-enough/
The Architecture of Open Source Applications: Ninja
- https://www.aosabook.org/en/posa/ninja.html
The Success and Failure of Ninja
- http://neugierig.org/software/blog/2020/05/ninja.html
n2: revisiting Ninja
- https://neugierig.org/software/blog/2022/03/n2.html

Tundra

Tundra, a build system
- Tundra is a high-performance code build system designed to give the best possible incremental build times even for very large software projects.
- https://github.com/deplinenoise/tundra

Tup

Tup: a file-based build system.
- http://gittup.org/tup/
- https://github.com/gittup/tup
Lessons and Pitfalls in Building Firefox with Tup
- 12th Seminar on Advanced Techniques & Tools for Software Evolution (SATToSE) 2019
- Guillaume Maudoux and Kim Mens
- http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/223053

Visual Studio

clcache.py - a compiler cache for Microsoft Visual Studio
- https://github.com/frerich/clcache
CompileTimer: Set of tests to benchmark the compile time of C++ constructs
- https://github.com/janwilmans/CompileTimer
Make VC++ Compiles Fast Through Parallel Compilation
- https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/make-vc-compiles-fast-through-parallel-compilation/
NMAKE
- The Microsoft Program Maintenance Utility (NMAKE.EXE)
  - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/nmake-reference
Visual Studio 2017 Throughput Improvements and Advice
- https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2018/01/04/visual-studio-2017-throughput-improvements-and-advice/

MSBuild

MSBuild (Visual C++) - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/msbuild-visual-cpp
Make VC++ Compiles Fast Through Parallel Compilation
- https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/make-vc-compiles-fast-through-parallel-compilation/
Microsoft AnyBuild
- Remote build execution technology for use in MSBuild, Microsoft Build Accelerator, and other build engines
- https://github.com/microsoft/AnyBuild
Microsoft.Build (MSBuild)
- The Microsoft Build Engine: the build platform for .NET and Visual Studio
- https://github.com/Microsoft/msbuild
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/msbuild/
MSBuild (Visual C++) - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/msbuild-visual-cpp
MSBuild Binary and Structured Log Viewer - http://msbuildlog.com/
MSBuild compile_commands.json logger
- An MSBuild logger that emits compile_commands.json for C++ projects
- https://github.com/0xabu/MsBuildCompileCommandsJson
MSBuildEditor
- The MSBuild Editor extension provides improved support for editing MSBuild files in Visual Studio and Visual Studio for Mac.
- https://github.com/mhutch/MonoDevelop.MSBuildEditor
Build Tools
- build native and managed MSBuild-based applications without requiring the Visual Studio IDE. There are options to install the Visual C++ compilers and libraries, MFC, ATL, and C++/CLI support, and .NET and .NET Core support.
- http://aka.ms/buildtools
- GoingNative 63: C++ Build Tools - https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-63-CPP-Build-Tools
Using A Custom Toolchain In Visual Studio With MSBuild
- http://www.reedbeta.com/blog/custom-toolchain-with-msbuild/
Visual Studio and Custom Build Rules
- http://miken-1gam.blogspot.com/2013/01/visual-studio-and-custom-build-rules.html

Xcode

xcbuild-debugging-tricks
- Xcode new build system debugging tricks
- https://gist.github.com/ddunbar/2dda0e836c855ea96759d1d05f086d69
https://XcodeBuildSettings.com

Xcode: Talks

Demystify parallelization in Xcode builds
- WWDC 2022
- Ben Herzog, Artem Chikin
- https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2022/110364/

xmake

xmake: A cross-platform build utility based on Lua
- https://xmake.io/
- https://github.com/xmake-io/xmake/

Talks

2024

The Importance of the C++ Build System Target Model

2023

CMake Successor Build Systems: A World Tour of Build Systems Towards Better C++ Builds
- CppCon 2023
- Damien Buhl & Antonio Di Stefano
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh3uayB9kHs
- https://github.com/CppCon/CppCon2023/blob/main/Presentations/CMake_Successor_Build_Systems.pdf

2021

Designing a modern build system and dependency manager, how hard can it be?
- NDC TechTown 2021; Jussi Pakkanen
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6LSdboN_wM

2019

Behind the Scenes of a C++ Build System
- CppCon 2019; Jussi Pakkanen
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34KzT2yvQuM
- https://github.com/CppCon/CppCon2019/tree/master/Presentations/behind_the_scenes_of_a_cpp_build_system
Building Modules
- CppCon 2019; Michael Spencer
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0SHHkBenss

2018

Build Systems: a Simple Solution to a Complicated Problem
- CppCon 2018; Peter Bindels
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWOmkwv8N_U
Creating the Complete Build Package
- CppCon 2018
- Panelists: Boris Kolpackov, Titus Winter, Robert Schumacher, Paddy McDonald, Manuel Klimek
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjdCxXdjaSA
Don't package your libraries, write packagable libraries!
- CppCon 2018; Robert Schumacher
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBP17HQAQjk
What to Expect from a Next-Generation C++ Build System
- CppCon 2018; Boris Kolpackov
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJP7SSLjvSI

2016

A New Architecture for Building Software
- 2016 LLVM Developers’ Meeting; Daniel Dunbar
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_T-eCToX1I
- http://www.llvm.org/devmtg/2016-11/#talk10
- llbuild: A low-level build system, used by Xcode and the Swift Package Manager
  - https://github.com/apple/swift-llbuild

2017

Building C++ Modules
- CppCon 2017; Boris Kolpackov
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8EbDcLQAoc
There Will Be Build Systems: I Configure Your Milkshake
- CppCon 2017; Isabella Muerte
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7THzO-D0ta4

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C++ links: Building, Build Systems, and Build Performance Optimization

Contents

Readings

Caching

Correctness

Dependencies

Distributed

Incremental

Reproducibility

Build Performance

Build Performance Readings

Build Performance Software

Benchmarking and Profiling

Caching

Dependencies Analysis and Optimization

Build Performance Talks

Software

Autotools

Bazel

Boost.Build

Buck2

build2

CMake

CMake Examples

CMake Readings

CMake Software

CMake Talks

CMake Talks: 2024

CMake Talks: 2022

CMake Talks: 2021

CMake Talks: 2020

CMake Talks: 2019

CMake Talks: 2018

CMake Talks: 2017

FASTBuild

Gradle

Make

GNU Make

Meson

Ninja

Tundra

Tup

Visual Studio

MSBuild

Xcode

Xcode: Talks

xmake

Talks

2024

2023

2021

2019

2018

2016

2017