I Made a Realtime C/C++ Build Visualizer
10 days ago
- #software-development
- #build-optimization
- #performance
- Many software projects suffer from slow builds due to fixable inefficiencies.
- What the Fork is a cross-platform tool designed to identify and help optimize build processes.
- The tool works with any build system or programming language, not just C/C++.
- It visualizes build timelines to highlight issues like lack of parallelism, disproportionate time spent on certain files, and unnecessary commands.
- Examples of inefficiencies include using 'make' without the '-j' flag and repeated environment checks in CMake builds.
- The tool is named after the 'fork()' system call and is used by prefixing build commands with 'wtf'.
- It helps optimize CI builds, which often lack caching and are clean rebuilds.
- Different operating systems require different APIs to monitor process execution, but the tool handles these complexities.
- Case studies show the tool revealing unexpected inefficiencies in builds from Delta, Mozilla, and Apple projects.
- The tool is available for early access on Windows, Linux, and macOS.