Suggestions.

[Steven Elling]

On Tuesday 22 April 2003 13:26, Rich Edelman wrote:
> Here's something I'm curious about... Distcc is only for compiling stuff,
> so why not just run an openmosix cluster instead? That way you'd get the
> benefits of the extra machines with any program that is capable, not just
> the make process.

I have never setup an openmosix cluster so I cannot comment on using one over 
the other.  However, I will site a question in their FAQ 
(http://distcc.samba.org/faq.html#mosix):

Why not use OpenMOSIX? »

If that floats your boat, great! OpenMOSIX will let you distribute all 
different processes, not just compilers. 

MOSIX and OpenMOSIX give you essentially a "single system image" cluster, 
which looks like a fast computer. distcc just looks like a fast compiler. 

I don't know of any comparative measurements between them; if you care to do 
it please let me know. OpenMOSIX may be more efficient at caching information 
remotely. On the other hand it seems like short-lived, CPU-intensive compiler 
processes are going to be a very difficult load for a design based on process 
migration. 

distcc has some differences that may be advantages to some people. (Let me 
know if I'm wrong here; I haven't used it.) 

You don't need root to install distcc
 
Installing distcc doesn't require a kernel patch or reboot; presumably it 
can't destabilize anything else on the machine.
 
distcc copes reasonably gracefully if a machine goes away abruptly or the 
network goes down; it will just keep compiling locally.
 
distcc works (at least in theory) on any POSIX-like operating system, not just 
Linux, and on any processor. It has been reported to work on Linux, FreeBSD, 
HP-UX, Solaris, AIX and Cygwin, and you can spread load across machines using 
different systems. OpenMOSIX works only on Linux, and (perhaps?) only on x86.
 
distcc volunteers can have different processor architectures or even operating 
systems to the machines they're serving. (You do need to install a cross 
compiler though.)
 
distcc is only about 6000 lines of C, so you may find it easier to hack or 
patch.
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