Unified Build System

An overview of how the WebKit build system is structured.

Overview

In order to reduce the compilation time, which used to take 40+ minutes on a fully loaded 2018 15“ MacBook Pro, we bundle up multiple C++ translation units (.cpp files) and compile them as a single translation unit. This is a common technique known as Unified Sources or Unified Builds.

Unified Sources are generated under WebKitBuild/X/DerivedSources where X is the name of build configuration such as Debug and Release-iphonesimulator. For example, WebKitBuild/Debug/DerivedSources/WebCore/unified-sources/UnifiedSource116.cpp may look like this:

#include "dom/Document.cpp"
#include "dom/DocumentEventQueue.cpp"
#include "dom/DocumentFragment.cpp"
#include "dom/DocumentMarkerController.cpp"
#include "dom/DocumentParser.cpp"
#include "dom/DocumentSharedObjectPool.cpp"
#include "dom/DocumentStorageAccess.cpp"
#include "dom/DocumentType.cpp"

Build Failures with Unified Sources

Because of Unified Sources, it is possible that adding a new file will cause a new build failure on some platforms. This happens because if UnifiedSource1.cpp contains a.cpp, b.cpp, c.cpp, then #include in a.cpp could have pulled in some header files that c.cpp needed. When you add b2.cpp, and c.cpp moves to UnifiedSource2.cpp, c.cpp no longer benefits from a.cpp “accidentally” satisfying c.cpp’s header dependency. When this happens, you need to add a new #include to c.cpp as it was supposed to be done in the first place.