Santa Clara, CA and Oslo, Norway –(press release excerpt) — Trolltech today unveiled Teambuilder, a network-based utility that significantly speeds software compilation tasks, saving developers considerable wasted time. Teambuilder will be demonstrated in booth number 1026 at the Software Development Conference and Expo at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, CA, April 22 to 26.

“We apologize to developers for reducing their compile-time. They will have less time to surf the web, play Quake, or shoot their co-workers with Nerf guns,” said Eirik Eng, Trolltech's president. “As a developer, I feel your pain — but as a boss, I want to be sure you're working efficiently!”

Teambuilder uses spare CPU cycles of networked computers to speed compilation tasks by up to 14 times, thereby drastically decreasing the idle time spent waiting for an application to compile. Unlike most compile-farm tools, Teambuilder provides easy setup and maintenance. Teambuilder also ensures that new machines can be added quickly, and with limited configuration, while optimizing compile times between multiple systems.

“Since the API of our software has not yet been fixed, but is heavily under construction, it often happens that we must recompile the whole cvs tree,” explains Falk Brettschneider from Dr. Baldeweg AG, developers of 3D presentation and medical software. “Testing showed at least 10 of our computers were idle at any given time. Using Teambuilder, the virtual power of the compiler increased an incredible 10 times! Recompiling time for our whole software decreased from about 1 hour to only 5 minutes. Teambuilder means less headache for our team programming, and less need for more capable CPUs.”

Teambuilder works on Linux and requires no dedicated cluster; instead, it uses the spare CPU cycles on existing machines. A cluster of five machines takes less than 30 minutes to set up. No kernel or system changes are required, nor is NFS, and normally no changes to the existing build system are necessary. Jobs are scheduled intelligently, based on job size, machine speed, and load. Even small compile jobs are faster since they are compiled on the fastest machines in the farm.

The product, which supports GNU C/C++ compilers, offers graphical monitoring and configuration tools.

Teambuilder is available immediately for purchase from the Trolltech website. The licensing begins at $750 for 5 machines, $1200 for 10 machines, and $1800 for 20 machines. For pricing information over a 20-machine license, please contact Trolltech.

 
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