bin-wrapper

What is bin-wrapper?

The bin-wrapper npm package is a utility that helps you download and manage binaries for your Node.js projects. It allows you to specify a binary, download it if necessary, and make it available for use in your project. This is particularly useful for ensuring that the correct version of a binary is used, regardless of the environment in which your code is running.

What are bin-wrapper's main functionalities?

Download and manage binaries

This feature allows you to specify different sources for binaries based on the operating system and architecture. The code sample demonstrates how to set up a BinWrapper instance to download the gifsicle binary for different platforms and run it to check its version.

const BinWrapper = require('bin-wrapper');
const path = require('path');

const base = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/imagemin/gifsicle-bin/main/vendor';
const bin = new BinWrapper()
  .src(`${base}/macos/gifsicle`, 'darwin')
  .src(`${base}/linux/x64/gifsicle`, 'linux', 'x64')
  .src(`${base}/win/x64/gifsicle.exe`, 'win32', 'x64')
  .dest(path.join(__dirname, 'vendor'))
  .use(process.platform === 'win32' ? 'gifsicle.exe' : 'gifsicle');

bin.run(['--version']).then(() => {
  console.log('Binary is working');
}).catch(err => {
  console.error('Binary failed to run', err);
});

Other packages similar to bin-wrapper

node-pre-gyp

node-pre-gyp is a tool that makes it easy to publish and install Node.js C++ addons from binaries. It provides a way to package and distribute precompiled binaries, which can be downloaded and used without requiring users to compile the code themselves. Compared to bin-wrapper, node-pre-gyp is more focused on C++ addons and their distribution, whereas bin-wrapper is more general-purpose for managing any kind of binary.

nexe

nexe is a command-line utility that compiles your Node.js application into a single executable file. It includes the Node.js runtime and your application code, making it easy to distribute and run your application on different systems. While bin-wrapper focuses on downloading and managing external binaries, nexe is about packaging your Node.js application into a standalone binary.

pkg

pkg is a tool that packages Node.js projects into executable files for different platforms. It allows you to create a single executable that includes your application code and the Node.js runtime. Similar to nexe, pkg is focused on creating standalone executables, whereas bin-wrapper is about managing external binaries that your project depends on.

README

bin-wrapper

Binary wrapper that makes your programs seamlessly available as local dependencies

Install

$ npm install --save bin-wrapper

Usage

var BinWrapper = require('bin-wrapper');

var base = 'https://github.com/imagemin/gifsicle-bin/raw/master/vendor';
var bin = new BinWrapper()
	.src(base + '/osx/gifsicle', 'darwin')
	.src(base + '/linux/x64/gifsicle', 'linux', 'x64')
	.src(base + '/win/x64/gifsicle.exe', 'win32', 'x64')
	.dest(path.join('vendor'))
	.use(process.platform === 'win32' ? 'gifsicle.exe' : 'gifsicle')
	.version('>=1.71');

bin.run(['--version'], function (err) {
	if (err) {
		throw err;
	}

	console.log('gifsicle is working');
});

Get the path to your binary with bin.path():

console.log(bin.path()); // => path/to/vendor/gifsicle

API

new BinWrapper(opts)

Creates a new BinWrapper instance. The available options are:

• global: Whether to check for global binaries or not. Defaults to false.
• progress: Show a progress bar when downloading files. Defaults to true.
• skip: Whether to skip checking if the binary works or not. Defaults to false.
• strip: Strip a number of leading paths from file names on extraction. Defaults to 1.

.src(url, os, arch)

Adds a source to download.

url

Type: String

Accepts a URL pointing to a file to download.

os

Type: String

Tie the source to a specific OS.

arch

Type: String

Tie the source to a specific arch.

.dest(dest)

Type: String

Accepts a path which the files will be downloaded to.

.use(bin)

Type: String

Define which file to use as the binary.

.path()

Get the full path to your binary.

.version(range)

Type: String

Define a semver range to check the binary against.

.run(cmd, cb)

Runs the search for the binary. If no binary is found it will download the file using the URL provided in .src().

cmd

Type: Array

Command to run the binary with. If it exits with code 0 it means that the binary is working.

cb(err)

Type: Function

Returns nothing but a possible error.

License

MIT © Kevin Mårtensson