Elego ComPact uses pools to cache the results of build runs, so that often only the recompilation of one or two packages is required, and all other needed package versions can be obtained from one of the package pools.
Package pools contain the exported and derived elements of software packages that are needed if the package is used (imported) by another package (maybe from another developer). Package pools may be regarded as caches for the results of build runs, that speed up the building of large systems considerably.
The ComPact Pool Manager is a tool that is primarily intended to control the contents and growth of the package pools, the caches of the ComPact build system. It may be used for fundamentally different purposes that are concerned with the pool structure, though, as it is highly configurable.