How do I get Windows to go as fast as Linux for compiling C++?

Question

I know this is not so much a programming question but it is relevant.

I work on a fairly large cross platform project. On Windows I use VC++ 2008. On Linux I use gcc

Answer 1

Try using jom instead of nmake

Get it here: https://github.com/qt-labs/jom

The fact is that nmake is using only one of your cores, jom is a clone of nmake that make uses of multicore processors.

GNU make do that out-of-the-box thanks to the -j option, that might be a reason of its speed vs the Microsoft nmake.

jom works by executing in parallel different make commands on different processors/cores. Try yourself an feel the difference!