args to `make` within the ports tree

Russell Meek russell at russellmeek.net
Wed Nov 23 20:58:04 GMT 2005


Roland Smith wrote:

>On Wed, Nov 23, 2005 at 10:50:19AM -0500, Mike Hernandez wrote:
>  
>
>>On  Wed, Nov 23, 2005 at 06:35:13PM +0300, Odhiambo Washington wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>There appears to be so many arguments to `make` when compiling
>>>applications fro the ports tree.
>>>What beats me is where they are documented ;)
>>>      
>>>
>>/etc/make.conf?
>>    
>>
>
>Try /usr/ports/KNOBS for the most common ones, and the Makefile of each
>port for specific ones.
>
>Roland
>  
>


Many ports fail if you try to use extravagant make flags like what you 
would use with Gentoo.

The ones that I use for the most optimal performance are:

*CPUTYPE?=* (Enter your CPUTYPE here, ex. prescott, p4, etc.)
*CFLAGS= -O -PIPE*
*COPTFLAGS= -O -PIPE*

Place a space between the *=* and your options.

These are systemwide commands that all ports will use during the build 
process.

*CPUTYPE?=*

An command for applications to be built with code optimizations for your 
CPU type, refer to the FreeBSD handbook for the different types available. 
The most common entries are *p4* if you have a Generic Pentium 4 
(Northwood, etc) or *prescott* if you are using a P4 Prescott model 
processor.

There are many for AMD also, these are listed in the handbook.

*CFLAGS= -O -PIPE*

Command optimizations for the GNU C compiler, -O and -PIPE I believe are 
standard for FreeBSD 6 Release, however I still include them in my 
Make.conf.  -O2 / -O3 are additional options you can use instead of -O, 
however it is not recommended.  I have used -O2 without any issues when 
building from ports, however I have noticed no difference between -O and 
-O2.

*-O* sets the optimization level, in this case 1.

*- PIPE* causes code to be passed between processes using pipes during 
compilation rather than using temporary files, which has obvious I/O 
advantages.

*COPTFLAGS= -O -PIPE*

Optimizational flags used when compiling your kernel, again I stick to 
what works -O and -PIPE.  I have noticed no breakage when using -O2, but 
then again I have noticed no performance increase on my servers either.

If you are just looking for some quick tweaks, these should set you on 
the right track.

Thanks,

Russell


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