Can I use multiple cores to generate code for multiple top-level models in parallel?

Is there any way to utilize multiple cores to generate code for multiple top-level models?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

As of date of publishing (R2024a), there is no explicit feature for generating code from multiple top-level models at the same time. There is a feature for generating code for multiple model references in the same model in parallel. 

Reduce Build Time for Referenced Models by Using Parallel Builds - MATLAB & Simulink (mathworks.com)

It can be possible to use a parfor loop (Parallel Computing Toolbox) with the rtwbuild() or slbuild() commands to generate code for multiple top level models, concurrently, on different cores. To do this you must take precautions to prevent data concurrency issues as the workers generate and read files. To avoid concurrency issues, you can follow the recommendations similar to this documentation page about "sim in parfor".

Using sim Function Within parfor - MATLAB & Simulink (mathworks.com)

The following is some pseudocode that shows the basic concepts of how to setup and cleanup workers using the models from the following example. The key is preventing workers from writing to the same files at the same time. We do this by giving each worker its own SLDD cache, cache folder, code gen folder, and working folder. 

Reduce Build Time for Referenced Models by Using Parallel Builds - MATLAB & Simulink (mathworks.com)

models = ["ParallelBuildB1", ...
    "ParallelBuildB2","ParallelBuildB3"];

spmd %worker setup
    curDir = pwd;
    addpath(curDir) %add necessary paths
    openProject(curDir); %open project if you have one
    Simulink.data.dictionary.setupWorkerCache %give each worker its own SLDD cache
    %call any custom setup scripts here
end

parfor i = 1:length(models)
    %give each worker its own cache and code gen dir to avoid race conditions
    %you may need to give each worker its own working dir if other files will be edited
    modelCacheFolder = models(i) + "_cache";
    modelCodeGenFolder = models(i) + "_code";
    mkdir(modelCacheFolder);
    mkdir(modelCodeGenFolder);
    Simulink.fileGenControl('set', 'CacheFolder', modelCacheFolder, ...
        'CodeGenFolder',modelCodeGenFolder);
    slbuild(models(i))
end

spmd %worker cleanup
    cd(curDir)
    bdclose all %close all models
    Simulink.data.dictionary.cleanupWorkerCache; %cleanup SLDD cache
end