distcc is a program to distribute builds of C, C++, Objective C or Objective C++ code across several machines on a network. distcc should always generate the same results as a local build, is simple to install and use, and is usually much faster than a local compile.

distcc does not require all machines to share a filesystem, have synchronized clocks, or to have the same libraries or header files installed. They can even have different processors or operating systems, if cross-compilers are installed.

distcc is developed on GNU/Linux, but has been reported to work on other systems including FreeBSD, NetBSD, Darwin, Solaris, HP-UX, IRIX, Cygwin and BSD/OS.

distcc sends the complete preprocessed source code across the network for each job, so all it requires of the volunteer machines is that they be running the distccd daemon, and that they have an appropriate compiler installed.

distcc is not itself a compiler, but rather a front-end to the GNU C/C++ compiler (gcc). (There is preliminary support for some other compilers but the main focus is gcc.) Almost all gcc options and features work as normal.

distcc is designed to be used with the -j parallel-build feature in GNU Make or SCons, or other build tools. Shipping files across the network takes time, but few cycles on the client machine. Any files that can be built remotely are essentially "for free" in terms of client CPU.