ccache is a computer program which caches the output of C/C++compilation so that the next time, the same compilation can be omitted. This can greatly speed up compiling time. The program counts on the fact that without it, identical source code is compiled repeatedly. // A computer program or software program (usually abbreviated to a program) is a step-by-step list of instructions written for a particular computer architecture in a particular computer programming language. ... The C Programming Language, Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, the original edition that served for many years as an informal specification of the language The C programming language is a standardized imperative computer programming language developed in the early 1970s by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie for use on the... C++ (pronounced see plus plus, IPA: /siË plÉs plÉs/) is a general-purpose computer programming language. ... A compiler is a computer program that translates a computer program written in one computer language (called the source language) into an equivalent program written in another computer language (called the output or the target language). ...
ccache is a re-implementation of Erik's idea in C with more features and better performance.
It is very common for developers to do a clean build of a project for a whole host of reasons, and this throws away all the information from your previous compiles.
The only way you should be able to tell that you are using ccache is the speed.
A ccache is uniquely identified by its name, which is a string internal to the API and not intended to be presented to users.
If the default ccache is destroyed, the ccache that was most recently default before it is made the default ccache, unless the default ccache was the only ccache in the collection; in that case, no ccache is made default, as there are no ccaches left.
If changes are made to the ccache while an iterator is being used on it, the iterator must return at least the intersection, and at most the union, of the set of credentials that were in the ccache when the iteration began and the set of credentials that are in the ccache when it ends.