Slower build with plugin 2.18.1 compared to 2.17.0

IntelliJ Platform
1

I compared the build time between 2.18.1 and 2.17.0 and I found quite a big difference:

  • 2.18.1 → 10m 57s
  • 2.17.0 → 7m 26s

Same machine and one execution after the other with clean check parameter, same code, same dependencies, just different plugin version

Deep details:

2

We are fine-tuning the performance in the underlying IntelliJ Structure library. This will impact the upcoming versions of IntelliJ Platform Plugin and Plugin Verifier.

3

Couldn’t this slowdown be caused by the many more plugins at test runtime, which are now enabled by default? Or would that also be solved by updates to the structure library?

4

Yes, we have seen the longer parse/verification times on 2026.2. This is due to ongoing effort of modularization of the Platform. OTOH preliminary results show improvements, especially on Windows.

5

Thanks!

I understood the original observation of longer build time that it’s “time to run tests + time to run the plugin verifier”. My suspicion is that the time to run tests has been increased by 2.18.x because now more plugins are loaded and activated when tests are executed.

Improvements to the time to run verification are always appreciated, though :slight_smile:

6

There is an underlying aspect: the Plugin Verifier and IntelliJ Platform Gradle plugin share the code that parses IDE layout and provides type-safe plugin model. Any improvement in that parsing will essentially address both plugin verification and speed up the Gradle builds.