Rake Tasks with Parallel Prerequisites

Tasks with Parallel Prerequisites

Rake allows parallel execution of prerequisites using the following syntax:

multitask :copy_files => [:copy_src, :copy_doc, :copy_bin] do
    puts "All Copies Complete"
  end

In this example, copy_files is a normal rake task. Its actions are executed whereever all of its prerequisites are done. The big difference is that the prerequisites (copy_src,copy_bin and copy_doc) are executed in parallel. Each of the prerequisites are run in their own Ruby thread, possibly allowing faster overall runtime.

http://rake.rubyforge.org/files/doc/rakefile_rdoc.html