Packing your Node.js application into a single executable.
- Works on
Windows, 
macOS and 
Linux - Creates a binary distribution of your application
- Supports natively any form of
require, including dynamic ones (e.g.require(myPath + 'module.js') - Supports any module, including direct download and compilation from npm
- Native C++ modules are fully supported
- Features zero-config auto-update capabilities to make your compiled project to stay updated
- Open Source, MIT Licensed
It takes less than 5 minutes to compile any project with node-packer.
You won't need to modify a single line of code in your application, no matter how you developed it as long as it works in plain node.js!
| Operating System | Architecture | Latest Stable |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | x86-64 | https://gw.alipayobjects.com/os/enclose-prod/0d0ec8fd-dc9c-4b0a-85df-8bf4af0e8b8d/nodec-v1.5.0-x64.zip |
| macOS | x86-64 | https://gw.alipayobjects.com/os/enclose-prod/bc2022ef-4b88-4c12-9980-394945c9c198/nodec-v1.5.0-darwin-x64.gz |
| Linux | x86-64 | https://gw.alipayobjects.com/os/enclose-prod/b6aa41a6-f6b5-4542-b777-06e4bc292c5e/nodec-v1.5.0-linux-x64.gz |
First install the prerequisites:
- SquashFS Tools 4.3
- Python 2.6 or 2.7
- Either of,
- Visual Studio 2015 Update 3, all editions including the Community edition (remember to select "Common Tools for Visual C++ 2015" feature during installation).
- Visual Studio 2017, any edition (including the Build Tools SKU). Required Components: "MSbuild", "VC++ 2017 v141 toolset" and one of the Windows SDKs (10 or 8.1).
Then download nodec-x64.zip, and this zip file contains only one executable. Unzip it. Optionally, rename it to nodec.exe and put it under C:\Windows (or any other directory that is part of PATH). Execute nodec from the command line.
First install the prerequisites:
- SquashFS Tools 4.3:
brew install squashfs - Xcode
- You also need to install the
Command Line Toolsvia Xcode. You can find this under the menuXcode -> Preferences -> Downloads - This step will install
gccand the related toolchain containingmake
- You also need to install the
- Python 2.6 or 2.7
- GNU Make 3.81 or newer
Then,
curl -L http://enclose.io/nodec/nodec-darwin-x64.gz | gunzip > nodec
chmod +x nodec
./nodec
First install the prerequisites:
- SquashFS Tools 4.3
sudo yum install squashfs-toolssudo apt-get install squashfs-tools
gccandg++4.9.4 or newer, orclangandclang++3.4.2 or newer- Python 2.6 or 2.7
- GNU Make 3.81 or newer
Then,
curl -L http://enclose.io/nodec/nodec-linux-x64.gz | gunzip > nodec
chmod +x nodec
./nodec
nodec [OPTION]... [ENTRANCE]
-r, --root=DIR Specifies the path to the root of the application
-o, --output=FILE Specifies the path of the output file
-d, --tmpdir=DIR Specifies the directory for temporary files
--clean-tmpdir Cleans all temporary files that were generated last time
--keep-tmpdir Keeps all temporary files that were generated last time
--make-args=ARGS Passes extra arguments to make
--vcbuild-args=ARGS Passes extra arguments to vcbuild.bat
-n, --npm=FILE Specifies the path of npm
--skip-npm-install Skips the npm install process
--npm-package=NAME Downloads and compiles the specified npm package
--npm-package-version=VER Downloads and compiles the specified version of the npm package
--auto-update-url=URL Enables auto-update and specifies the URL to get the latest version
--auto-update-base=STRING Enables auto-update and specifies the base version string
--msi Generates a .msi installer for Windows
--pkg Generates a .pkg installer for macOS
--debug Enable debug mode
-o, --dest-os=OS Destination operating system (enum: win mac solaris freebsd openbsd linux android aix)
-a, --dest-arch=ARCH Destination CPU architecture (enum: arm arm64 ia32 mips mipsel ppc ppc64 x32 x64 x86 s390 s390x)
--quiet Enable quiet mode
-v, --version Prints the version of nodec and exit
-V, --node-version Prints the version of the Node.js runtime and exit
-h, --help Prints this help and exit
Note: if ENTRANCE was not provided, then a single Node.js interpreter executable will be produced.
Note: To compile to 32-bit windows OS compatible programs on a 64-bit machine, you should use a x64 x32 cross compiling environment. You should be able to find it in your Start Menu after installing Visual Studio. Also, you have to use a 32-bit Node.js, because the arch information is detected via node -pe process.arch.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript.git
cd coffeescript
nodec bin/coffee
./a.out (or a.exe on Windows)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/eggjs/examples.git
cd examples/helloworld
npm install
nodec node_modules/egg-bin/bin/egg-bin.js
./a.out dev (or a.exe dev on Windows)
nodec --npm-package=coffee-script coffee
./a.out (or a.exe on Windows)
| Project | Differences |
|---|---|
| pkg | Pkg hacked fs.* API's dynamically in order to access in-package files, whereas Node.js Packer leaves them alone and instead works on a deeper level via libsquash. Pkg uses JSON to store in-package files while Node.js Packer uses the more sophisticated and widely used SquashFS as its data structure. |
| EncloseJS | EncloseJS restricts access to in-package files to only five fs.* API's, whereas Node.js Packer supports all fs.* API's. EncloseJS is proprietary licensed and charges money when used while Node.js Packer is MIT-licensed and users are both free to use it and free to modify it. |
| Nexe | Nexe does not support dynamic require because of its use of browserify, whereas Node.js Packer supports all kinds of require including require.resolve. |
| asar | Asar keeps the code archive and the executable separate while Node.js Packer links all JavaScript source code together with the Node.js virtual machine and generates a single executable as the final product. Asar uses JSON to store files' information while Node.js Packer uses SquashFS. |
| AppImage | AppImage supports only Linux with a kernel that supports SquashFS, while Node.js Packer supports all three platforms of Linux, macOS and Windows, meanwhile without any special feature requirements from the kernel. |
nodec also support cross-compilation. Since node.js is built from sources you will need to setup properly a toolchain in order
to get valid compilers to produce binaries for the destination platform.
You can easily do this with by using crosstool-ng or any other tool you like.
Once you're done with the build of a valid toolchain (don't forget to enable c++ if you use crosstool-ng which by default excludes it) you will be able to compile properly. Just set-up your environment so that it will know to use your cross-compile toolchain rather than your system's default build tools.
An example (you may need to adjust values or specify additional variables):
export AR="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-ar"
export CC="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc"
export CXX="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-g++"
export LINK="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-g++"
export CPP="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc -E"
export LD="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-ld"
export AS="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-as"
export CCLD="ax86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc ${TARGET_ARCH}"
export NM="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-nm"
export STRIP="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-strip"
export OBJCOPY="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-objcopy"
export RANLIB="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-ranlib"
export F77="x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-g77 ${TARGET_ARCH}"
unset LIBC
#Define flags
#export CXXFLAGS="-march=armv7-a"
export LDFLAGS="-L${CSTOOLS_LIB} -Wl,-rpath-link,${CSTOOLS_LIB} -Wl,-O1 -Wl,--hash-style=gnu"
export CFLAGS="-isystem${CSTOOLS_INC} -fexpensive-optimizations -frename-registers -fomit-frame-pointer -O2 -ggdb3"
export CPPFLAGS="-isystem${CSTOOLS_INC}"
# export CCFLAGS="-march=armv7-a"
#Tools
export CSTOOLS=/Volumes/crosstools/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
export CSTOOLS_INC=${CSTOOLS}/include
export CSTOOLS_LIB=${CSTOOLS}/lib
#export ARM_TARGET_LIB=$CSTOOLS_LIB
# export GYP_DEFINES="armv7=1"
#Define other things, those are not 'must' to have defined but we added
export SHELL="/bin/bash"
export TERM="screen"
export LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
export MAKE="make"
#Export the path for your system
#export HOME="/home/gioyik" #Change this one with the name of your user directory
export PATH=${CSTOOLS}/bin:/usr/arm-linux-gnueabi/bin/:$PATH
- Eliminate dependending on an outside Node.js and npm when compiling
- Support writing options down to package.json
- Be able to use a custom icon and file description for the executable output. maybe an icon file in the package root directory.
- Add options to select items to deliver
- Ppt out zlib/openssl for system libraries
- Incl and ICU
- Debug facilities
- Add options to select compression-method
- Optionally xz the final product
- Detect simultaneous runs of nodec
- Warn the user that some symbolic link links to the outside of the project
- Add a check procedure at compile time
- pmq20#37
- Cross-compile
- Make Docker images for compiler environments
- Generate Windows-less Cmd-less Windows applications via /subsystem=windows
- Drop the external dependency of mksquashfs
- i.e. Give libsquash the ability to mksquashfs
- Support library only projects
- Libsquash: portable, user-land SquashFS that can be easily linked and embedded within your application.
- Libautoupdate: cross-platform C library to enable your application to auto-update itself in place.
- Squashfs Tools: tools to create and extract Squashfs filesystems.