diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7bd42557b7..3f047a5765 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 *~
 _darcs
+*.gch
 *.obj
 *.o
 *.s
diff --git a/GNUmakefile b/GNUmakefile
index dc7b391949..55906786cc 100755
--- a/GNUmakefile
+++ b/GNUmakefile
@@ -68,6 +68,75 @@ ifdef CONFIG
 		vm/vm.o \
 		vm/words.o
 
+	MASTER_HEADERS = $(PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS) \
+		vm/layouts.hpp \
+		vm/platform.hpp \
+		vm/primitives.hpp \
+		vm/segments.hpp \
+		vm/gc_info.hpp \
+		vm/contexts.hpp \
+		vm/run.hpp \
+		vm/objects.hpp \
+		vm/counting_profiler.hpp \
+		vm/sampling_profiler.hpp \
+		vm/errors.hpp \
+		vm/bignumint.hpp \
+		vm/bignum.hpp \
+		vm/booleans.hpp \
+		vm/instruction_operands.hpp \
+		vm/code_blocks.hpp \
+		vm/bump_allocator.hpp \
+		vm/bitwise_hacks.hpp \
+		vm/mark_bits.hpp \
+		vm/free_list.hpp \
+		vm/fixup.hpp \
+		vm/tuples.hpp \
+		vm/free_list_allocator.hpp \
+		vm/write_barrier.hpp \
+		vm/object_start_map.hpp \
+		vm/nursery_space.hpp \
+		vm/aging_space.hpp \
+		vm/tenured_space.hpp \
+		vm/data_heap.hpp \
+		vm/code_heap.hpp \
+		vm/gc.hpp \
+		vm/debug.hpp \
+		vm/strings.hpp \
+		vm/words.hpp \
+		vm/float_bits.hpp \
+		vm/io.hpp \
+		vm/image.hpp \
+		vm/alien.hpp \
+		vm/callbacks.hpp \
+		vm/dispatch.hpp \
+		vm/entry_points.hpp \
+		vm/safepoints.hpp \
+		vm/vm.hpp \
+		vm/allot.hpp \
+		vm/tagged.hpp \
+		vm/data_roots.hpp \
+		vm/code_roots.hpp \
+		vm/generic_arrays.hpp \
+		vm/callstack.hpp \
+		vm/slot_visitor.hpp \
+		vm/collector.hpp \
+		vm/copying_collector.hpp \
+		vm/nursery_collector.hpp \
+		vm/aging_collector.hpp \
+		vm/to_tenured_collector.hpp \
+		vm/code_block_visitor.hpp \
+		vm/compaction.hpp \
+		vm/full_collector.hpp \
+		vm/arrays.hpp \
+		vm/math.hpp \
+		vm/byte_arrays.hpp \
+		vm/jit.hpp \
+		vm/quotations.hpp \
+		vm/inline_cache.hpp \
+		vm/mvm.hpp \
+		vm/factor.hpp \
+		vm/utilities.hpp
+
 	EXE_OBJS = $(PLAF_EXE_OBJS)
 
 	FFI_TEST_LIBRARY = libfactor-ffi-test$(SHARED_DLL_EXTENSION)
@@ -165,13 +234,16 @@ vm/resources.o:
 vm/ffi_test.o: vm/ffi_test.c
 	$(TOOLCHAIN_PREFIX)$(CC) -c $(CFLAGS) $(FFI_TEST_CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
-.cpp.o:
+vm/master.hpp.gch: vm/master.hpp $(MASTER_HEADERS)
+	$(TOOLCHAIN_PREFIX)$(CPP) -c -x c++-header $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
+
+%.o: %.cpp vm/master.hpp.gch
 	$(TOOLCHAIN_PREFIX)$(CPP) -c $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
-.S.o:
+%.o: %.S
 	$(TOOLCHAIN_PREFIX)$(CC) -c $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
-.mm.o:
+%.o: %.mm vm/master.hpp.gch
 	$(TOOLCHAIN_PREFIX)$(CPP) -c $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
 .SUFFIXES: .mm
@@ -179,6 +251,7 @@ vm/ffi_test.o: vm/ffi_test.c
 endif
 
 clean:
+	rm -f vm/*.gch
 	rm -f vm/*.o
 	rm -f factor.dll
 	rm -f factor.lib
diff --git a/vm/Config.arm b/vm/Config.arm
index 8b13789179..958a9b7c6d 100644
--- a/vm/Config.arm
+++ b/vm/Config.arm
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += \
+	cpu-arm.hpp
diff --git a/vm/Config.linux b/vm/Config.linux
index 3a2539d930..00ad5b4858 100644
--- a/vm/Config.linux
+++ b/vm/Config.linux
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 include vm/Config.unix
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS += vm/os-genunix.o vm/os-linux.o vm/mvm-unix.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/os-genunix.hpp vm/os-linux.hpp
 LIBS = -ldl -lm -lrt -lpthread $(X11_UI_LIBS) -Wl,--export-dynamic
 SITE_CFLAGS += -Wl,--no-as-needed
diff --git a/vm/Config.linux.arm b/vm/Config.linux.arm
index 26acde562d..e6f24274eb 100644
--- a/vm/Config.linux.arm
+++ b/vm/Config.linux.arm
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 include vm/Config.linux
 include vm/Config.arm
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS += vm/os-linux-arm.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/os-linux-arm.hpp
diff --git a/vm/Config.macosx b/vm/Config.macosx
index 11a66f3acf..b617c54e6c 100644
--- a/vm/Config.macosx
+++ b/vm/Config.macosx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ include vm/Config.unix
 CFLAGS += -fPIC
 
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS += vm/os-macosx.o vm/mach_signal.o vm/mvm-unix.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/os-macosx.hpp vm/mach_signal.hpp
 
 DLL_EXTENSION = .dylib
 SHARED_DLL_EXTENSION = .dylib
diff --git a/vm/Config.unix b/vm/Config.unix
index fac0d8b6d1..8a36522619 100644
--- a/vm/Config.unix
+++ b/vm/Config.unix
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ SHARED_FLAG = -shared
 
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS = vm/os-unix.o
 PLAF_EXE_OBJS += vm/main-unix.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/os-unix.hpp
 
 ifdef NO_UI
 	X11_UI_LIBS =
diff --git a/vm/Config.windows b/vm/Config.windows
index 1ae91b15c2..15316932fa 100755
--- a/vm/Config.windows
+++ b/vm/Config.windows
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ LIBS = -lm
 
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS += vm/os-windows.o vm/mvm-windows.o
 PLAF_EXE_OBJS += vm/resources.o vm/main-windows.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/os-windows.hpp vm/mvm-windows.hpp
 
 EXE_SUFFIX=
 EXE_EXTENSION=.exe
diff --git a/vm/Config.windows.x86.32 b/vm/Config.windows.x86.32
index 6ba2955d79..82cad23ef6 100644
--- a/vm/Config.windows.x86.32
+++ b/vm/Config.windows.x86.32
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS += vm/os-windows-x86.32.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/os-windows.32.hpp
 DLL_PATH=http://factorcode.org/dlls
 WINDRES=windres
 include vm/Config.windows
diff --git a/vm/Config.windows.x86.64 b/vm/Config.windows.x86.64
index f3dc9b0b77..26a1903f94 100644
--- a/vm/Config.windows.x86.64
+++ b/vm/Config.windows.x86.64
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS += vm/os-windows-x86.64.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/os-windows.64.hpp
 DLL_PATH=http://factorcode.org/dlls/64
 CC=$(WIN64_PATH)-gcc.exe
 WINDRES=$(WIN64_PATH)-windres.exe
diff --git a/vm/Config.x86.32 b/vm/Config.x86.32
index 695752a210..7bc404084a 100644
--- a/vm/Config.x86.32
+++ b/vm/Config.x86.32
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS += vm/cpu-x86.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/cpu-x86.hpp
 
diff --git a/vm/Config.x86.64 b/vm/Config.x86.64
index 695752a210..7bc404084a 100644
--- a/vm/Config.x86.64
+++ b/vm/Config.x86.64
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS += vm/cpu-x86.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/cpu-x86.hpp
 
diff --git a/vm/Config.x86.fat b/vm/Config.x86.fat
index 695752a210..7bc404084a 100644
--- a/vm/Config.x86.fat
+++ b/vm/Config.x86.fat
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 PLAF_DLL_OBJS += vm/cpu-x86.o
+PLAF_MASTER_HEADERS += vm/cpu-x86.hpp