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Platform engineering · Chromium

From five hours to one and a half

Reworking the custom Chromium build process to shorten the development loop for browser and fingerprinting solutions.

eSky

3.3×

faster custom Chromium compilation

Project context

The problem that required change

A custom Chromium build underpinned realistic fingerprint and automation-resilience work, but a full compilation took roughly five hours.

That cycle made experiments expensive and delayed validation of changes in low-level browser components.

Scope of responsibility

From diagnosis to delivery

  • 01Profiling and optimising the Chromium build process
  • 02Introducing ccache, tmpfs and compiled-file caching
  • 03Implementing patches for the custom browser build
  • 04Developing an SDK to collect real user fingerprints
  • 05Integrating the SDK with Angular 14+ applications and team workflows
Process

Decisions organised into a controlled process

  1. 01

    Measure

    Break down compilation time and identify the operations consuming the most resources.

  2. 02

    Faster environment

    Use tmpfs to reduce disk-operation overhead during compilation.

  3. 03

    Reuse work

    Configure ccache and artifact caching so unchanged parts are not repeatedly rebuilt.

  4. 04

    Validate

    Check custom patches and embed the optimised process in everyday engineering work.

Measurable outcomes

~5 h

previous full compilation time

~1.5 h

compilation time after optimisation

3.3×

faster implementation and validation loop

C++ · Chromium · ccache · tmpfs · TypeScript · Angular · CI/CD

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