the make command is a binary in most unix based operating systems that is included in i believe the autotools package, which allows you to compile configured c source code files that have been interpreted by the autotools package

paralell builds are triggered by the '-j' option, which stands for jobs. this tells the make binary to start a multithreaded build of a configured source package

most people and articles on the internet suggest using the total amount of processors, may it be physical or virtual, to properly compile a program. this applies to most cpu architectures, including x86* and arm, meaning if your intel core i7 has 24 cores, the proper command is '-j 24' and according to them, it should compile using every cpu, but this simply makes 24 threads i believe, and through layers of load balancing, this may be incorrect

when i use the jobs option, and im not doing much on my computer, i use a multiple of up to 4, ie if i have 24 cores, i would gladly issue a '100' to the jobs option. this noticably speeds up compile time at the cost of processor time

this technique also works in cmake, but not in python or other interpreted languages, i believe the as command has also been left behind

anyways, for advanced users, you can set a MAKE_JOBS_THREAD_COUNT enviromental variable, and change/include/event that when you need to compile software; this method is amazing for compiling both the linux/bsd kernel, including the 'world' of bsd, which is the userland of the unix system

remember: the more threads you use, the most likely your computer will slow down when running other applications, including web browsers and even video players!

happy compiling!

unidef