NCS 2.0.2: slow build

[MaLu]

Hi,

in my company, we are using an nRF9160 on a custom board. Recently we updated from NCS 1.8.0 to 2.0.2 (we also still use spm for now).

1.8.0 was already not super fast, when it comes to build time, but building with NCS 2.0.2 takes like 10 times longer still! Implementing new stuff and playing around with configs and overlays has become a real chore because of that.

Is there any way to speed the build process up, since it has been faster in the previous release?

[JONATHAN LL]

Hi,

What platform are you on, Windows/Linux/Mac ?

Are you using the nRF Connect for Desktop app to install the toolchain ?

If you where to build two similar projects in both NCS 1.8.0 and NCS 2.0.0 are the times comparable or is one still substantially slower then the other?

Regards,
Jonathan

[MaLu]

Hi,
I am on Windows and have used the toolchain manager in nRF Connect for Dektop to install both.

As I said, I migrated the application we build at our company, so it is basically the same thing. I even made sure both use spm still, instead of tfm. There wasn't much else to change necessary to jump the versions.

Even when just building the hello world sample for nrf9160dk_ns with the VSCode extension I get the same result. (Of course you have to add CONFIG_BUILD_WITH_TFM=n when building with 2.0.2 to make it actually comparable) 

The hello world sample build times are as follows:

1.8.0: ~1m
2.0.2 (tfm off): ~7m40s

My System also shouldn't be too underpowered with an i5-9400 and 16GB Ram.

[JONATHAN LL]

There is some difference from before and after v2.0.0 when it comes to time it seems but I am not getting as bad results as you are, only a couple of seconds not minutes. With TFM=Y then I do get 30+ sec in difference.  

So the fact that you are getting 7 times slower is not good and I understand your frustration. 

Not a solution to your problem but I know for a fact that building on a Linux system does go much faster, so you could try to set up a virtual machine wit Linux and see if that is a better experience, I know it works for me, as windows is a bit slow when it comes to building. 

can you open the nRF connect Desktop app and click the create system report



Like this

And share the file with me.

Regards,
Jonathan

[MaLu]

# nRFConnect System Report - 2022-09-01T05-00-21.626Z

- System:     FUJITSU ESPRIMO P758
- BIOS:       FUJITSU // American Megatrends Inc. FUJ    - 12500000
- CPU:        1 x Intel Core™ i5-9400 2.9 GHz 6 cores (6 physical)
- Memory:     5.6 GB free of 15.7 GB total
- Filesystem: C: (NTFS) 236.3 GB 60.5% used

- OS:         Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (10.0.19042) Windows ia32

- Versions
    - kernel: 10.0.19042
    - git: 2.36.1.windows.1
    - node: 14.16.0
    - python: 3.9.0
    - python3: 
    - nrf-device-lib-js: 0.4.11
    - nrf-device-lib: 0.11.8
    - nrfjprog DLL: 10.15.4
    - JLink: JLink_V7.58b

- Connected devices:

Thanks for looking into this. Here is the report. I cannot promise to get the clear from IT to install VM stuff though. 

[JONATHAN LL]

Thanks, will try to figure this out, and see if i can replicate a similar result. 

If there are some antivirus running then try to pause this, or check if it is taking up a lot of recourses while building. 

Alternative it to test on a different but similar computer, se if the same happens then.  

Regards,
Jonathan