Distributed Compilation through VPN Tunnels with distcc

distcc is a compiler (or a front end to GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)) designed to split up compiling processes over many machines, which can speed up the process enormously. The distccd daemon has to be run on all of the systems that are to participate, then the system starting the process must be informed about the distcc hosts, and then we can start a compiling process.

On Debian systems, installation is as easy as typing apt-get install distcc. As the next step some parameters have to be set in /etc/default/distcc:

• Whether distccd should be started on boot

• A list of other distcc hosts that are allowed to connect

• The interface distcc should listen on for incoming connections

This is the file /etc/default/distcc on a Debian system:

# Defaults for distcc initscript
# sourced by /etc/init.d/distcc
#
# should distcc be started on boot?
#
# STARTDISTCC="true"
STARTDISTCC="false"
#
# Which networks/hosts should be allowed to connect to the...