Annotation-Aware Build Management for Incremental Compilation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing application build systems face inefficiencies in reducing build times, particularly when only a small part of the application project is modified, as they often require full rebuilds instead of incremental updates, leading to increased developer time and reduced development efficiency.

Innovation Solution

A system that identifies a list of annotation processor files, triggers annotation processing while deferring compilation of remaining source code files, and recompiles only the updated files incrementally, using options like 'proc:only' and 'proc:none' to optimize the build process.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of time

If incremental build is used to rebuild only changed source code files, then build time is reduced, but annotation processing may be incomplete or incorrect

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebuild timeVSAvoidannotation processing completeness

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of timeVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The build process is segmented into two distinct phases: annotation processing phase and compilation phase. Annotation processors are identified and executed first to generate complete annotation data, then the compilation phase uses this pre-generated data for incremental rebuilding. This segmentation ensures annotation completeness while maintaining build efficiency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Annotation processing is performed as a preliminary action before incremental compilation. The system identifies annotation processor files, executes them to generate complete annotation data, and stores this data for use during the subsequent incremental build process. This preliminary execution of annotation processors ensures that all annotation information is available before compilation begins, resolving the contradiction between speed and completeness.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If full rebuild is performed to ensure complete annotation processing, then annotation reliability is improved, but build time increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveannotation processing completenessVSAvoidbuild time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The build system segments annotation processing from compilation, allowing annotation processors to be executed independently and their results cached. During incremental builds, the system retrieves pre-processed annotation data rather than re-executing all annotation processors, thus ensuring reliability without requiring full rebuilds.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system recovers and reuses annotation processing results from previous builds. Instead of discarding and re-executing annotation processors during every build, the system caches annotation data and recovers it for incremental builds, eliminating redundant processing while maintaining completeness.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #34Discarding and recovering

3Reliability

If annotation processing is performed for all source code files, then complete annotation data is generated, but processing overhead increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveannotation data completenessVSAvoidprocessing overhead

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and identifies only the specific annotation processor files from the complete source code base. Rather than processing all source files uniformly, it selectively extracts files containing annotation processors and executes only those, reducing processing overhead while maintaining data completeness.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Different processing quality is applied to different parts of the source code. Annotation processor files receive full annotation processing execution, while other files utilize cached annotation data during incremental builds. This local differentiation of processing quality reduces overall overhead while ensuring completeness where needed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS12190085B2Annotation aware efficient application build management

Publication Date: 2025.01.07 DELL PROD LP

AI summary

Techniques are disclosed for annotation-aware efficient application build management. For example, a system can include at least one processing device including a processor coupled to a memory, the at least one processing device being configured to perform the following steps: identifying a list of annotation processor files from a plurality of source code files to generate an annotation processor list; triggering annotation processing using one or more annotation processor files in the annotation processor list, while deferring compilation of remaining source code files in the plurality of source code files; and recompiling incrementally any output from the annotation processing and any of the remaining source code files that were updated from a previous compilation without triggering a full recompilation of the plurality of source code files.