Architecture

zb uses a client/server architecture for all builds. When a user runs zb build (or similar invocations), the zb program acts as a client that connects to a store server — the zb serve command. Typically, a machine runs a single store server. The store server manages a single store directory, which contains build artifacts.

The store directory can be overridden with the ZB_STORE_DIR environment variable, but changing this is discouraged. Build artifacts can only be shared among store servers with the same store directory path because build artifacts can contain references to other build artifacts. For example, a program in one build artifact may depend on a shared library in another build artifact. A consistent store directory setting is critical for build reuse.

A zb client communicates with the store server using an RPC protocol. By default, it expects a store server running on the local machine on a Unix domain socket.

Environment

ZB_STORE_DIR

Absolute path to the store directory.

Defaults to:

• /opt/zb/store on Linux and macOS

• C:\zb\store on Windows

ZB_STORE_SOCKET

Path of the store server Unix socket to use or, in the case of zb serve, to create. The default is:

• /opt/zb/var/zb/server.sock on Linux and macOS

• C:\zb\var\zb\server.sock on Windows