node-gyp
is a cross-platform command-line tool written in Node.js for compiling
native addon modules for Node.js, which 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 bindings.gyp
file
to support the latest versions of node.
Multiple target versions of node are supported (i.e. 0.7
, 0.8
, 1.0
, etc.),
regardless of what version of node is actually installed on your system
(node-gyp
downloads the necessary development files for the target version).
- Easy to use, consistent interface
- Same commands to build your module on every platform
- Supports multiple target versions of Node
To install with npm
, invoke:
$ npm install -g node-gyp
You will also need to install:
- On Unix
python
make
- A proper C/C++ compiler toolchain, like GCC
- On Windows
To compile your native addon, first go to its root directory:
$ cd my_node_addon
From here, you can invoke the node-gyp
executable. The next step is to generate
the appropriate project build files for the current platform. Use configure
for
that:
$ node-gyp configure
Note: The configure
step looks for the first .gyp
file in the current
directory to processs. See below for instructions on creating the .gyp
file.
Now you will have either a Makefile
(on Unix platforms) or a
vcxproj
file (on Windows) in the current directory. Next invoke the build
step:
$ node-gyp build
Now you have your compiled .node
bindings file! The compiled bindings end up in
out/Debug
or out/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 to build
.
(Optional) Copy the compiled bindings into an appropriate directory for
runtime loading detection (with node-bindings), using the copy
command:
$ node-gyp copy
So for example, if you are on a 64-bit OS X machine and your target node version
is 0.7
, then the copy
command above would copy the bindings from
out/Release/bindings.node
to compiled/0.7/darwin/x64/bindings.node
.
Previously when node had node-waf
you had to write a wscript
file. The
replacement for that is the bindings.gyp
file, which describes the configuration
to build your module in a JSON-like format. A barebones gyp
file appropriate for
building a node addon looks like:
{
'targets': [
{
'target_name': 'bindings',
'sources': [ 'src/bindings.cc' ]
}
]
}
Some additional resources:
node-gyp
responds to the following commands:
build
- Invokesmake
/msbuild.exe
and builds the native addonclean
- Removes any generated project files and theout
dirconfigure
- Generates project build files for the current platformcopy
- Copies a compiled bindings to an appropriate dir for runtime detectioninstall
- Installs node development files for the given version. Respects http_proxy/HTTP_PROXY and --proxy= when downloading.list
- Lists the currently installed node development file versionsremove
- Removes a node development files for a given version
(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.