FASTBuild NetCache

This project allows to use an HTTP or WebDAV server as a backend for the FASTBuild compilation cache.

Features:

• Windows WebDAV syntax for cache paths
• HTTP syntax for cache paths
• support standard file-based caches as a fallback
• multiple cache locations
• support for Windows Credential Manager

Cache paths

It supports cache paths (through the .CachePath setting entry, or through the FASTBUILD_CACHE_PATH environment variable) in a Windows-like format:

.CachePath = '\\server.example.com\fbcache'
.CachePath = '\\other.server.example.com@8080\fbcache'
.CachePath = '\\secure-server.example.com@ssl\DavWWWRoot\fbcache'

Alternatively, plain HTTP URLs are also supported:

.CachePath = 'http://server.example.com:9000/path/to/fbuild/cache'
.CachePath = 'https://secure-server.example.com/cacheroot/'

If the cache paths does not point to a network location, the plugin falls back to a standard filesystem cache location:

.CachePath = 'C:\Temporary\Cache'

Multiple cache locations

Multiple cache locations can be specified, separated by a semicolon. When retrieving, each cache is queried until data is found. When sending, each cache is queried until one publishing attempt is successful.

.CachePath = 'C:\Temporary\Cache;https://secure-server.example.com/cacheroot/'

Credentials

If the HTTP or WebDAV server requires authentication, credentials can be provided in two ways:

• stored as environment variables:
  • FASTBUILD_CACHE_USERNAME=john
  • FASTBUILD_CACHE_PASSWORD=s3cr3tp4ss
• stored as generic credentials in the Windows Credential Manager:
  • cmdkey /generic:server.example.com /user:john /pass:s3cr3tp4ss

Setup

1. Copy the plugin (FBuild-NetCache.dll or FBuild-NetCache.so) on each machine that will run FASTBuild. It is easier, but not required, to store it side-by-side with FBuild.exe.

2. Add a reference to the plugin in the Settings section in the .bff file. If installed in a non-standard location, the full path to the DLL may have to be specified:

.CachePluginDLL = 'FBuild-NetCache.dll' ; (or 'FBuild-NetCache.so' on Linux)

.CachePluginDLL = 'C:\ProgramData\FASTBuild\FBuild-NetCache.dll'

Build instructions

Just run make to build the plugin.

In order to build with another compiler, use e.g. make CXX=g++-13. For debug builds, use make DEBUG=1.

For now the best way to build on Windows is using an MSYS2 shell.

Linux package prerequisites:

• make, libssl-dev

Windows package prerequisites:

• make, zip
• a C++ compiler, e.g. mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc or mingw-w64-x86_64-clang
• the OpenSSL library, e.g. mingw-w64-x86_64-openssl or mingw-w64-clang-x86_64-openssl

Acknowledgements

FASTBuild NetCache development is funded by Don’t Nod Entertainment.

FASTBuild NetCache uses cpp-httplib as its HTTP client library.