If you are a C/C++ programmer like me, you may experience jumping around different machines to write and compile your code, or you may write code on different machines for different projects, and scp/rsync/ftp the projects around. It works, but it's a bit tedious and takes too much burden on our brains.
For example, say I have two projects that should be compiled on their compiling machines respectively. There are two obvious workflows for writing code for them "simultaneously":
- Write code locally, rsync files to their compiling machine and compile them, fix errors according to the compiling result. Pros: I have only one coding environment to maintain, and I have full control of it. Install packages? Start some services? No problem, just a few commands. Cons: I have to sync the source code, spot the errors by my eyes and fix them accordingly.
- Write code on the compiling machine, compile them and fix errors locally there, taking the advantage of
M-x next-error. Pros:M-x next-errorworks like a charm to fix errors, just a piece of cake. Eye friendly. Cons: Several Emacs environment to maintain, and I don't always have the root privilege. Update: Tramp is a built-in package for editing remote files, which also falls into this category, although it's quite handy to edit single files like confs, at least for me.
(Update: There is another option using sshfs, which mounts the remote FS, it's a general and nice solution if you have a stable network.)
So I was wondering if there is a way to take the good part of both approaches so that I have the full privilege and fix compiling errors locally as if I were compiling locally? Well, the answer was yes, and ppcompile was my solution for it.
ppcompile stands for ping-pong compile, as it works like playing ping-pong. First, it rsync's the files to the compiling machines ("ping"). Second, it gets the result back ("pong") and gets them fixed locally.
It works now, and I hope it helps you too. :)