Is a parallel build of Maxima (using make -j N), OK?
Subject: Is a parallel build of Maxima (using make -j N), OK?
From: Rupert Swarbrick
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2010 00:26:48 +0000
"Dr. David Kirkby" <david.kirkby at onetel.net> writes:
> On 11/26/10 11:49 PM, Rupert Swarbrick wrote:
>> "Dr. David Kirkby"<david.kirkby at onetel.net> writes:
>>> If one sets something like
>>>
>>> MAKE="make -j 20"
>>>
>>> to build maxima with 20 threads in paralllel, is this safe? With well
>>> written Makefiles this is, but unless care was taken to make sure
>>> there are no race conditions, this can be unwise.
>>>
<snip>
>>
>> Hmm, I'm not sure you'll gain much: I think the lisp compilation (which
>> takes most of the time) has to be done serially.
>>
>> Rupert
>
> Yes, the Lisp compilation takes a long time, but so does Maxima
> too. If it was possible to reduce this somewhat, it would be good.
Sorry, I think I was not clear. What I meant was that most of the time
compiling maxima is spent compiling code written in lisp. This code is
compiled in order using a "Makefile-like" process called asdf (or
mk:defsystem, depending on which you prefer) and this is a serial
process.
There are projects like XCVB that have tried to do this in parallel for
building large lisp images, but it's not clear how much success they've
had.
Rupert
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