node-gyp is a cross-platform command-line tool written in Node.js for compiling
native addon modules for Node.js. It bundles the gyp
project used by the Chromium team and takes away the pain of dealing with the
various differences in build platforms. It is the replacement to the node-waf
program which is removed for node v0.8. If you have a native addon for node that
still has a wscript file, then you should definitely add a binding.gyp file
to support the latest versions of node.
Multiple target versions of node are supported (i.e. 0.8, ..., 4, 5, 6,
etc.), regardless of what version of node is actually installed on your system
(node-gyp downloads the necessary development files or headers for the target version).
You can install with npm:
$ npm install -g node-gyp
You will also need to install:
python (v2.7 recommended, v3.x.x is not supported)makepython (v2.7 recommended, v3.x.x is not supported) (already installed on macOS)Command Line Tools via Xcode. You can find this under the menu Xcode -> Preferences -> Downloads (or by running xcode-select --install in your Terminal)
gcc and the related toolchain containing makeInstall all the required tools and configurations using Microsoft's windows-build-tools using npm install --global --production windows-build-tools from an elevated PowerShell or CMD.exe (run as Administrator).
Install tools and configuration manually:
Visual C++ Build Environment:
Option 1: Install Visual C++ Build Tools using the Default Install option.
Option 2: Install Visual Studio 2015 and select Common Tools for Visual C++ during setup. This also works with the free Community and Express for Desktop editions.
Option 3: if you already have Visual Studio 2015 installed and did not install the
Common Tools for Visual C++ during setup, you can File -> New -> Project, pick
any of the options under Templates -> Other Languages -> Visual C++ then Ok
and Visual Studio will offer to install the Common Tools for Visual C++ with a
"Install Missing Features" / "You need the Universal Windows App Development Tools
to develop Windows app projects." dialog.
:bulb: [Windows Vista / 7 only] requires .NET Framework 4.5.1
Install Python 2.7 (v3.x.x is not supported), and run npm config set python python2.7 (or see below for further instructions on specifying the proper Python version and path.)
Launch cmd, npm config set msvs_version 2015
If the above steps didn't work for you, please visit Microsoft's Node.js Guidelines for Windows for additional tips.
If you have multiple Python versions installed, you can identify which Python
version node-gyp uses by setting the '--python' variable:
$ node-gyp --python /path/to/python2.7
If node-gyp is called by way of npm and you have multiple versions of
Python installed, then you can set npm's 'python' config key to the appropriate
value:
$ npm config set python /path/to/executable/python2.7
To compile your native addon, first go to its root directory:
$ cd my_node_addon
The next step is to generate the appropriate project build files for the current
platform. Use configure for that:
$ node-gyp configure
Auto-detection fails for Visual C++ Build Tools 2015, so --msvs_version=2015
needs to be added (not needed when run by npm as configured above):
$ node-gyp configure --msvs_version=2015
Note: The configure step looks for the binding.gyp file in the current
directory to process. See below for instructions on creating the binding.gyp file.
Now you will have either a Makefile (on Unix platforms) or a vcxproj file
(on Windows) in the build/ directory. Next invoke the build command:
$ node-gyp build
Now you have your compiled .node bindings file! The compiled bindings end up
in build/Debug/ or build/Release/, depending on the build mode. At this point
you can require the .node file with Node and run your tests!
Note: To create a Debug build of the bindings file, pass the --debug (or
-d) switch when running either the configure, build or rebuild command.
Previously when node had node-waf you had to write a wscript file. The
replacement for that is the binding.gyp file, which describes the configuration
to build your module in a JSON-like format. This file gets placed in the root of
your package, alongside the package.json file.
A barebones gyp file appropriate for building a node addon looks like:
{
"targets": [
{
"target_name": "binding",
"sources": [ "src/binding.cc" ]
}
]
}
Some additional resources for addons and writing gyp files:
node-gyp responds to the following commands:
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
help | Shows the help dialog |
build | Invokes make/msbuild.exe and builds the native addon |
clean | Removes the build directory if it exists |
configure | Generates project build files for the current platform |
rebuild | Runs clean, configure and build all in a row |
install | Installs node header files for the given version |
list | Lists the currently installed node header versions |
remove | Removes the node header files for the given version |
node-gyp accepts the following command options:
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
-j n, --jobs n | Run make in parallel |
--target=v6.2.1 | Node version to build for (default=process.version) |
--silly, --loglevel=silly | Log all progress to console |
--verbose, --loglevel=verbose | Log most progress to console |
--silent, --loglevel=silent | Don't log anything to console |
debug, --debug | Make Debug build (default=Release) |
--release, --no-debug | Make Release build |
-C $dir, --directory=$dir | Run command in different directory |
--make=$make | Override make command (e.g. gmake) |
--thin=yes | Enable thin static libraries |
--arch=$arch | Set target architecture (e.g. ia32) |
--tarball=$path | Get headers from a local tarball |
--devdir=$path | SDK download directory (default=~/.node-gyp) |
--ensure | Don't reinstall headers if already present |
--dist-url=$url | Download header tarball from custom URL |
--proxy=$url | Set HTTP proxy for downloading header tarball |
--cafile=$cafile | Override default CA chain (to download tarball) |
--nodedir=$path | Set the path to the node source code |
--python=$path | Set path to the python (2) binary |
--msvs_version=$version | Set Visual Studio version (win) |
--solution=$solution | Set Visual Studio Solution version (win) |
node-gyp responds to environment variables or npm configuration
npm_config_OPTION_NAME for any of the
options listed above (dashes in option names should be replaced by underscores).
These work also when node-gyp is invoked directly:$ export npm_config_devdir=/tmp/.gyp> set npm_config_devdir=c:\temp\.gypnpm configuration, variables take the form OPTION_NAME.
This way only works when node-gyp is executed by npm:$ npm config set [--global] devdir /tmp/.gyp$ npm i buffertools(The MIT License)
Copyright (c) 2012 Nathan Rajlich <nathan@tootallnate.net>
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
10.1.0 (2024-03-13)
FAQs
Node.js native addon build tool
We found that node-gyp2 demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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