node-gyp-build

What is node-gyp-build?

The node-gyp-build package is designed to simplify the process of compiling and distributing native Node.js addons. It automatically detects the platform and architecture of the user's system and chooses the correct pre-compiled binary to use, if available. If a pre-compiled binary is not available, it falls back to building from source using node-gyp.

What are node-gyp-build's main functionalities?

Loading pre-compiled binaries

This code attempts to load a pre-compiled binary for the native addon located in the same directory as the script. If a pre-compiled binary is not available for the current platform, it will attempt to compile the addon from source.

const nativeAddon = require('node-gyp-build')(__dirname)

Building from source

This code snippet demonstrates how to explicitly get the path to the correct binary and then require it. If the binary does not exist, node-gyp-build will attempt to compile the addon from source using the binding.gyp file located in the __dirname directory.

const path = require('path');
const nodeGypBuild = require('node-gyp-build');

const bindingPath = nodeGypBuild.path(__dirname);
const binding = require(bindingPath);

Other packages similar to node-gyp-build

prebuild

The prebuild package is similar to node-gyp-build in that it also focuses on handling pre-built native binaries for Node.js modules. It allows module authors to pre-compile binaries for various versions of Node.js and platforms, which can then be easily installed by end users. Compared to node-gyp-build, prebuild requires more manual setup for defining prebuild scripts and managing binary uploads and downloads.

node-pre-gyp

node-pre-gyp is another tool that provides a way to publish and install Node.js C++ addons from binaries. It is similar to node-gyp-build but comes with a different set of features and a more complex configuration. node-pre-gyp allows for storing binary packages on remote servers and fetching them during installation, which can be more flexible but also more complex to set up compared to node-gyp-build.

neon-cli

neon-cli is a toolchain for creating native Node.js modules with Rust. While it serves a different purpose by targeting Rust instead of C++, it provides similar functionality in terms of compiling and distributing native modules. It automates the process of building and publishing Rust-based Node addons, which can be seen as an alternative approach to node-gyp-build for developers who prefer Rust over C++.

README

node-gyp-build

Build tool and bindings loader for node-gyp that supports prebuilds.

npm install node-gyp-build

Use together with prebuildify to easily support prebuilds for your native modules.

Usage

Note. Prebuild names have changed in prebuildify@3 and node-gyp-build@4. Please see the documentation below.

node-gyp-build works similar to node-gyp build except that it will check if a build or prebuild is present before rebuilding your project.

It's main intended use is as an npm install script and bindings loader for native modules that bundle prebuilds using prebuildify.

First add node-gyp-build as an install script to your native project

{
  ...
  "scripts": {
    "install": "node-gyp-build"
  }
}

Then in your index.js, instead of using the bindings module use node-gyp-build to load your binding.

var binding = require('node-gyp-build')(__dirname)

If you do these two things and bundle prebuilds with prebuildify your native module will work for most platforms without having to compile on install time AND will work in both node and electron without the need to recompile between usage.

Users can override node-gyp-build and force compiling by doing npm install --build-from-source.

Prebuilds will be attempted loaded from MODULE_PATH/prebuilds/... and then next EXEC_PATH/prebuilds/... (the latter allowing use with zeit/pkg)

Supported prebuild names

If so desired you can bundle more specific flavors, for example musl builds to support Alpine, or targeting a numbered ARM architecture version.

These prebuilds can be bundled in addition to generic prebuilds; node-gyp-build will try to find the most specific flavor first. Prebuild filenames are composed of tags. The runtime tag takes precedence, as does an abi tag over napi. For more details on tags, please see prebuildify.

Values for the libc and armv tags are auto-detected but can be overridden through the LIBC and ARM_VERSION environment variables, respectively.

License

MIT