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Building Securely and Efficiently: A Modern Approach to Native Build Processes

· 8 min read
Christopher McArthur
Christopher McArthur
C++ DevOps Expert

The software development landscape is a nebulous. On one front, developers strive to craft innovative features at breakneck speed before requirements change. On another, security threats loom, constantly evolving to exploit vulnerabilities. In this environment, a robust and secure build process is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity as software supply chain attacks become more sophisticated.

This guide introduces the high-level designing a native C or C++ build process that prioritizes both speed and security.

Distributing the Build Work​

Imagine a factory with multiple assembly lines, each focused on a specific part of the product. This parallel approach increases efficiency and speeds up production. Similarly, in a build process, distributing work of various modules across multiple machines creates parallel build pipelines, leading to faster builds and improved scalability. This can be achieved through various means:

  • Modular Builds: Break down the build process by design components or compilation units. Each module is built independently, allowing teams to work concurrently without waiting for a monolithic build to complete. This modular approach can significantly reduce build times and improve efficiency.
  • Parallel Builds: Utilize parallelism by distributing the build across multiple machines or cores. Modern build systems can automatically detect dependencies and run independent tasks concurrently, further speeding up the process.
  • Cloud-Based Builds: Leverage cloud infrastructure to dynamically scale build resources based on demand. This is particularly useful for large-scale builds that would otherwise require significant on-premises hardware investment.

Services that provide this functionality are a dime as dozen, GitHub Enterprise, GitLab, or BitBucket Pipelines all lend themselves very well to this.

The biggest limiting factor will actually be your product software design. The order of which C or C++ code can be compiled, linked, or archived is a direct consequence of the design. Favoring microservices design patterns along with re-usable components are likely to lead to better build times.

Not all builds are equal, you'll want to consider different strategies for developer versus automation.

Cold vs Warm vs. Incremental Builds​

Not all software builds are equal. Understanding the difference between cold builds and incremental builds is key to optimizing your build strategy. Many of these ideas carry over from other aspect such as deployment or application start.

  • Cold Builds: A cold build is a complete build of the software from scratch. This is typically required when a new copy of the codebase is checked out on a clean system, such as during CI/CD when integrating all of the software. Cold builds are time-consuming but necessary to ensure that all components are correctly integrated.
  • Warm Builds: A warm build refers to a complete rebuild of the software from an existing working copy. This is typically required when there are significant changes across the codebase, such as after a major refactor or when integrating a large number of changes. Warm builds are extremely time-consuming and in general require interrupt any work on that system.
  • Incremental Builds: Incremental builds only compile and link the parts of the software that have changed since the last build. This approach is much faster and is suitable for day-to-day development activities where only a few files have been modified.

Balancing the frequency of cold and incremental builds is crucial. While incremental builds save time during development, regular cold builds should be scheduled to ensure that the build system remains reliable and that no hidden dependencies are introduced.

Build Caching: Speeding Up Software Compilation​

Build caching is a technique used to accelerate the software build process by storing and reusing previously generated build outputs. Instead of recompiling the entire codebase from scratch, a build cache stores intermediate compiler outputs—such as object files, libraries, or executables—so that only the changed components need to be rebuilt.

There are two key types of build caching:

  1. Intermediate Compiler Output Caching: This involves caching the results of individual compilation steps, such as object files. If the source code hasn't changed, the cached outputs can be reused, reducing build times.
  2. Component Caching: This caches entire components or modules, particularly useful in complex projects with many interdependent parts.

Both types of caching are closely related to artifact management, where these cached outputs (artifacts) are stored, versioned, and retrieved efficiently. Proper build caching can dramatically speed up incremental builds and ensure consistency across different development environments.

Ensuring Quality and Efficiency with CI/CD Pipelines​

To ensure that all individual contributions from your teams are cohesive, and that the final software package is ready for the release process, a robust CI/CD pipeline is essential.

Continuous Integration (CI)​

CI is the practice of automatically integrating code changes from multiple contributors into the main branch frequently. Each integration is verified by an automated build and automated tests, which helps detect errors early.

  • Integration Builds: Set up integration builds that compile and link the entire product, even if individual components are developed and tested independently. This ensures that the final product will function as expected when all components are combined.
  • Automated Testing: Incorporate a comprehensive suite of automated tests that run with each build. This ensures that new changes do not introduce regressions or break existing functionality.

Continuous Deployment (CD)​

CD is the practice of automatically deploying software that has passed the CI pipeline into production or a production-like environment. This ensures that the software is always in a deployable state.

  • Artifact Management: Implement an artifact repository to manage the outputs of your build process. This includes binaries, libraries, and other build artifacts that are versioned and stored for later use.
  • Deployment Pipelines: This is not limited to deploying to a fleet of devices. Internal deployment pipelines that automatically deploy builds to staging environments for further testing. Having a single unified way for Quality Assurance or System Test teams to have the latest copy of the software reduces bottlenecks and communication errors across teams. This allows for thorough validation before a release candidate is considered ready for production.

The Security-Driven Imperative for Toolchain Evolution​

In today's software landscape, security threats are constantly evolving not just for the product but also the critical IT infrastructure internally to the business - this includes the build process as Solarwinds proved, and this has a direct impact on the toolchain used to build and maintain your software. Security vulnerabilities in tool dependencies such as compilers, linkers, libraries, and even build scripts can become points of exploitation. System dependencies such as CI/CD Agents, Operating Systems and Security Agents themselves evolve to mitigate these threats, they often introduce changes that can render older tools obsolete or incompatible. This forces you to continuously update your dependencies, ensuring that everything remains secure and capable of producing reliable software.

  • Operating System Upgrades: Operating systems frequently undergo major upgrades to address security vulnerabilities, improve performance, and introduce new features. These upgrades can introduce changes in system libraries, APIs, or even file system structures that may not be compatible with older versions of your toolchain.
  • Hardware Platform Changes: As hardware platforms evolve, especially in the context of new processor architectures or enhanced security features like secure boot and trusted execution environments, your existing toolchain may not be able to generate binaries that fully leverage these advancements, or worse, might fail to work altogether.
  • Security Compliance: Over time, industry standards and compliance requirements evolve. New security protocols, encryption standards, and coding practices may require updates to your compilers, debuggers, and other tools to remain compliant.

Conclusion​

By understanding the techniques outlined in this guide, you can elevate your native build process to new heights. This empowers you to achieve both speed and security, the cornerstones of a modern development environment. Understanding the nuances of cold, warm, and incremental builds equips you to choose the right approach for each situation. We've also unveiled the power of build caching, a technique that dramatically accelerates builds by reusing previously generated outputs. Mot importantly, implement security best practices. Regularly update your toolchain and enforce secure coding practices.

But remember, the journey doesn't stop there. In today's threat landscape, security is paramount. We've explored the ever-evolving security challenges that necessitate the continuous evolution of your build toolchain. Factors like operating system upgrades, hardware platform changes, and evolving security compliance requirements all demand a proactive approach to toolchain management.

By embracing the strategies outlined in this guide, you can establish a secure and efficient native build process for your C and C++ code. This empowers your team to deliver innovative software with confidence, knowing that your build process is both robust and resilient.

By following these steps and leveraging the knowledge from this guide, you can build a secure and efficient native build process that propels your software development efforts forward.