Trying another idea to speed up the Mac build

.github/workflows/build-macos.yml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ on:
 
 jobs:
   macos-x64:
-    runs-on: macos-15-intel
+    runs-on: macos-26-intel
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -41,9 +41,22 @@ jobs:
           df -h
           echo "::endgroup::"
 
+      # install GNU make v4 to fix make -j N option https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/53176#issuecomment-2134740862
+      - name: Install build tools
+        run: brew install ninja make
+
+      - name: Put new GNU Make binary first in PATH
+        run: echo "$(brew --prefix)/opt/make/libexec/gnubin" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
+
+      - name: Check make
+        run: |
+          which make
+          make --version
+
       - run: yarn start --node-range node${{ matrix.target-node }} --arch x64 --output dist
         env:
           MAKE_JOB_COUNT: 4 # prevent to run out of memory
+          NODE_CONFIGURE_ARGS: --ninja # speed up compilation
 
       - name: Check if binary is compiled, skip if download only
         id: check_file
@@ -58,7 +71,7 @@ jobs:
           path: dist/*
 
   macos-arm64:
-    runs-on: macos-14 # macos-14 is arm64: https://github.com/actions/runner-images#available-images
+    runs-on: macos-26 # is arm64: https://github.com/actions/runner-images#available-images
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -87,8 +100,17 @@ jobs:
       - run: yarn install --ignore-engines
 
       # add missing distutils package to python 3.12
+      # install GNU make v4 to fix make -j N option https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/53176#issuecomment-2134740862
       - name: Install distutils
-        run: brew install python-setuptools
+        run: brew install python-setuptools ninja make
+
+      - name: Put new GNU Make binary first in PATH
+        run: echo "$(brew --prefix)/opt/make/libexec/gnubin" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
+
+      - name: Check make
+        run: |
+          which make
+          make --version 
 
       # Remove unneeded stuff to free up build space (from Node https://github.com/nodejs/build/issues/3878)
       - name: Cleanup before build
@@ -102,6 +124,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: yarn start --node-range node${{ matrix.target-node }} --arch arm64 --output dist
         env:
           MAKE_JOB_COUNT: 2 # prevent to run out of memory
+          NODE_CONFIGURE_ARGS: --ninja # speed up compilation
 
       - name: Check if binary is compiled
         id: check_file

lib/build.ts

@@ -288,6 +288,10 @@ async function compileOnUnix(
 
   args.push(...getConfigureArgs(getMajor(nodeVersion), targetPlatform, targetArch));
 
+  // Accept extra configuration coming from github action like "--ninja" to speed up macos build
+  const extraConfigureArgs = (process.env.NODE_CONFIGURE_ARGS || '').split(/\s+/).filter(Boolean);
+  args.push(...extraConfigureArgs);
+
   log.info("Running configure with: ", args.join(" "));
   // TODO same for windows?
   await spawn('/bin/sh', ['./configure', ...args], {