<s>
A	O
compile	B-Operating_System
farm	I-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
server	B-Operating_System
farm	I-Operating_System
,	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
servers	B-Application
,	O
which	O
has	O
been	O
set	O
up	O
to	O
compile	O
computer	B-Application
programs	I-Application
remotely	O
for	O
various	O
reasons	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Uses	O
of	O
a	O
compile	B-Operating_System
farm	I-Operating_System
include	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Cross-platform	B-Operating_System
development	I-Operating_System
:	O
When	O
writing	O
software	O
that	O
runs	O
on	O
multiple	O
processor	O
architectures	B-General_Concept
and	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
infeasible	O
for	O
each	O
developer	B-Application
to	O
have	O
their	O
own	O
machine	O
for	O
each	O
architecture	O
—	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
one	O
platform	B-Device
might	O
have	O
an	O
expensive	O
or	O
obscure	O
type	O
of	O
CPU	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
scenario	O
,	O
a	O
compile	B-Operating_System
farm	I-Operating_System
is	O
useful	O
as	O
a	O
tool	O
for	O
developers	B-Application
to	O
build	O
and	O
test	O
their	O
software	O
on	O
a	O
shared	O
server	O
running	O
the	O
target	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
and	O
CPU	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compile	B-Operating_System
farms	I-Operating_System
may	O
be	O
preferable	O
to	O
cross-compilation	B-Application
as	O
cross	B-Application
compilers	I-Application
are	O
often	O
complicated	O
to	O
configure	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
some	O
cases	O
compilation	O
is	O
only	O
possible	O
on	O
the	O
target	O
,	O
making	O
cross-compilation	B-Application
impossible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cross-platform	B-Operating_System
continuous	O
integration	O
testing	O
:	O
in	O
this	O
scenario	O
,	O
each	O
server	O
has	O
a	O
different	O
processor	O
architecture	O
or	O
runs	O
a	O
different	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
;	O
scripts	O
automatically	O
build	O
the	O
latest	O
version	O
of	O
a	O
source	O
tree	O
from	O
a	O
version	B-Architecture
control	I-Architecture
repository	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
difficulties	O
of	O
cross-platform	B-Operating_System
development	I-Operating_System
is	O
that	O
a	O
programmer	B-Application
may	O
unintentionally	O
introduce	O
an	O
error	O
that	O
causes	O
the	O
software	O
to	O
stop	O
functioning	O
on	O
a	O
different	O
CPU/OS	O
platform	B-Device
from	O
the	O
one	O
they	O
are	O
using	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
using	O
a	O
cross-platform	B-Operating_System
compile	B-Operating_System
farm	I-Operating_System
,	O
such	O
errors	O
can	O
be	O
identified	O
and	O
fixed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
using	O
a	O
compile	B-Operating_System
farm	I-Operating_System
,	O
these	O
operations	O
can	O
be	O
run	O
in	O
parallel	O
on	O
separate	O
machines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
example	O
of	O
a	O
program	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
do	O
this	O
is	O
distcc	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
example	O
of	O
a	O
compile	B-Operating_System
farm	I-Operating_System
was	O
the	O
service	O
provided	O
by	O
SourceForge	B-Application
until	O
2006	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SourceForge	B-Application
compile	B-Operating_System
farm	I-Operating_System
was	O
composed	O
of	O
twelve	O
machines	O
of	O
various	O
computer	B-General_Concept
architectures	I-General_Concept
running	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
allow	O
developers	B-Application
to	O
test	O
and	O
use	O
their	O
programs	O
on	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
platforms	B-Device
before	O
releasing	O
them	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FreeBSD	B-Operating_System
reports	O
service	O
which	O
lets	O
package	O
maintainers	O
test	O
their	O
own	O
changes	O
on	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
versions	O
and	O
architectures	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
