Re: How to cache output of the compiler aka ccache

[Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org>]

Yes, Ada defines separate compilation cleanly.  C does not, and
Makefiles were created to make up for it.  Makefiles can become very
complex in the presence of preprocessors or rules that build a program
that generates code which is compiled later on (this happens e.g. in
the GCC bootstrap process).

It takes a lot of care to get these Makefiles right, and even then
they tend to be very brittle.  ccache was created to make up for
*that*.

The Ada model is indeed clean, simple and reliable.  Sometimes, it is
necessary to supplement it to provide preprocessing facilities, or to
select the units to be compiled from a CM system.  Simple scripts or
minimalistic makefiles can do that.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.