Xmake Build Optimization & Best Practices

A roadmap for making an xmake build faster. Try them in order — each has a different cost/benefit. Measure before and after with XMAKE_PROFILE=perf:tag (or time xmake).

0. Measure first

Don't guess where the time goes:

XMAKE_PROFILE=perf:tag     xmake        # compile vs link vs other
XMAKE_PROFILE=perf:process xmake        # which subprocesses dominate
XMAKE_PROFILE=perf:call    xmake        # expensive Lua functions
XMAKE_PROFILE=trace        xmake f -c   # trace every subprocess in configure
time xmake --rebuild                    # total wall-clock

Profile before each change — "speedups" often turn out to be in the cache-hit, not the fix.

See xmake-troubleshooting for the full profiler reference.