There seems a dichotomy between "explicitly compile each d file (aka module) and then link" versus "compile all the files (aka modules) at once" especially since the objects for each file/module are created in both cases.

I am assuming there are also some DMD/GDC/LDC2 differences as well.

Currently Dub is "compile all source at once" and SCons is "compile each file individually and then link" (though I am currently using SCons in a "compile all source at once" as an experiment to see what needs to happen to the SCons D build support.

Is there some critical feature which means that "compile all source at once" is a better route?

-- 
Russel. ============================================================================= Dr Russel Winder      t: +44 20 7585 2200   voip: sip:russel.winder@ekiga.net 41 Buckmaster Road    m: +44 7770 465 077   xmpp: russel@winder.org.uk London SW11 1EN, UK   w: www.russel.org.uk  skype: russel_winder

On Sunday, 22 December 2013 at 08:21:47 UTC, Russel Winder wrote:
> Is there some critical feature which means that "compile all source at
> once" is a better route?

It is much faster if you have enough memory to afford it (imports are no re-parsed). Also there have been some nasty symbol emitting bugs in separate compilation mode but those should be fixed by now (though I won't swear it)