# How long does it take to build vtk for linux in windows?
**URL:** https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [February 8, 2023, 7:53am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640 "2023-02-08T07:53:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sagues](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/Sagues)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2023, 7:53am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640/1 "2023-02-08T07:53:07Z")
I am building vtk library for linux in windows (WSL).
I have done the steps in the following page:
[https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk/-/blob/master/Documentation/dev/getting\_started\_linux.md](https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk/-/blob/master/Documentation/dev/getting_started_linux.md)
However I did not use parameter `-GNinja`
After 16 hours it has only built the 51% of vtk library. Is it normal?
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2023, 8:34am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640/2 "2023-02-08T08:34:20Z")
Hi @Sagues
VTK does not officially supports WSL, so hard to say.
Why not building it on Windows directly ?
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### Author:  [@Sagues](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/Sagues)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2023, 8:36am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640/3 "2023-02-08T08:36:26Z")
I compiled vtk for windows but I have to compile my application for linux too.
I don’t know if I should use -Gninja parameter. I don’t know if I should cancel the build operation and use -Gninja parameter.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2023, 8:38am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640/4 "2023-02-08T08:38:38Z")
> [@Sagues](#):
>
> I have to compile my application for linux too.
Then use linux ?
> I don’t know if I should cancel the build operation and use -Gninja parameter.
Ninja will not speed up your first build, so I would not cancel.
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### Author:  [@Sagues](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/Sagues)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2023, 8:39am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640/5 "2023-02-08T08:39:04Z")
ok thank you very much
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### Author:  [@dgobbi](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/dgobbi)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2023, 9:59am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640/6 "2023-02-08T09:59:16Z")
Since compilation is very IO intensive, it should be done on a filesystem that is native to the compiler. Compiling with WSL onto an NTFS filesystem, for example, will be very slow. Compiling with WSL onto a virtual disk that is formatted with ext4 should be much faster.
A similar rule applies to containers like Docker. Binding to a filesystem that isn’t native to the container results in very poor IO performance.
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### Author:  [@Sagues](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/Sagues)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2023, 10:44am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640/7 "2023-02-08T10:44:38Z")
Thank you very much
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### Author:  [@afa](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/afa)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-vtk-for-linux-in-windows/10640/8 "2023-02-15T14:28:06Z")
I would also check WSL1 vs WSL2.
WSL2 should improve performance except for file IO: [Windows 10 WSL1 vs WSL2 Disk Performance · Neil Bryan](https://neilbryan.ca/posts/win10-wsl2-performance/)
You can force WSL v1 though. I do not if that will help you