diff --git a/src/frontends/lean/definition_cmds.cpp b/src/frontends/lean/definition_cmds.cpp
index 08a53a989f..686d196ca6 100644
--- a/src/frontends/lean/definition_cmds.cpp
+++ b/src/frontends/lean/definition_cmds.cpp
@@ -132,7 +132,6 @@ static void finalize_definition(elaborator & elab, buffer<expr> const & params,
 static environment compile_decl(parser & p, environment const & env,
                                 name const & c_name, name const & c_real_name, pos_info const & pos) {
     try {
-        time_task _("compilation", p.mk_message(message_severity::INFORMATION), c_real_name);
         return compile(env, p.get_options(), c_real_name);
     } catch (exception & ex) {
         // FIXME(gabriel): use position from exception
diff --git a/src/library/compiler/compiler.cpp b/src/library/compiler/compiler.cpp
index f506e411ad..1a7ccf28c9 100644
--- a/src/library/compiler/compiler.cpp
+++ b/src/library/compiler/compiler.cpp
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Author: Leonardo de Moura
 #include "library/max_sharing.h"
 #include "library/trace.h"
 #include "library/sorry.h"
+#include "library/time_task.h"
 #include "library/compiler/util.h"
 #include "library/compiler/lcnf.h"
 #include "library/compiler/find_jp.h"
@@ -184,6 +185,9 @@ environment compile(environment const & env, options const & opts, names cs) {
         if (has_synthetic_sorry(cinfo)) return env;
     }
 
+    time_task t("compilation",
+                message_builder(environment(), get_global_ios(), "foo", pos_info(), message_severity::INFORMATION));
+
     comp_decls ds = to_comp_decls(env, cs);
     csimp_cfg cfg(opts);
     auto simp  = [&](environment const & env, expr const & e) { return csimp(env, e, cfg); };