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jerem

Member

From: France

Registered: 2005-01-15

Posts: 310

Distcc behaviour question

I set up a distcc server on a desktop and I access it from my laptop.

While compiling a program( bind for example), the desktop seems to receive data, and compiles it, but not very much. The 'top' command tells that the maximum %CPU distcc and CC use is not higher than 8/9%.

Is this normal ?

How can I share the load more equally between the two computers ?

I use "-j3" as makeflag and my variables seem to be correctly set.

kth5

Member

Registered: 2004-04-29

Posts: 657

Website

Re: Distcc behaviour question

if the sourcefiles are small enough the additional perfomace cost generated by networking and distcc internal stuff exceeds the compile procedure. that on the other hand does not mean that distcc will only use CPU load, rather time. ping the client from the server, now multiply that by two, add the time the transfer needs for up- and download and now see how long each file took to compile (distcc logs). i'm sure you will agree that top's (was it 5 seconds?) average may likely be less than 10% depending on the machine and the size and nummer of sourcefiles simultaneously compiled.

in such a case i recommend to increase the number of jobs done at the same time in MAKEFLAGS and / or raise the maximum amount of jobs the distcc server will accept from a client.

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I recognize that while theory and practice are, in theory, the same, they are, in practice, different. -Mark Mitchell

jerem

Member

From: France

Registered: 2005-01-15

Posts: 310

Re: Distcc behaviour question

Thanks !