node-build

node-build is an nodenv plugin that provides a nodenv install command to compile and install different versions of Node on UNIX-like systems.

You can also use node-build without nodenv in environments where you need precise control over Node version installation.

See the list of releases for changes in each version.

Installation

Installing as an nodenv plugin (recommended)

Installing node-build as a nodenv plugin will give you access to the nodenv install command.

git clone https://github.com/nodenv/node-build.git $(nodenv root)/plugins/node-build

This will install the latest development version of node-build into the $(nodenv root)/plugins/node-build directory. From that directory, you can check out a specific release tag. To update node-build, run git pull to download the latest changes.

Installing as a standalone program (advanced)

Installing node-build as a standalone program will give you access to the node-build command for precise control over Node version installation. If you have nodenv installed, you will also be able to use the nodenv install command.

git clone https://github.com/nodenv/node-build.git
cd node-build
./install.sh

This will install node-build into /usr/local. If you do not have write permission to /usr/local, you will need to run sudo ./install.sh instead. You can install to a different prefix by setting the PREFIX environment variable.

To update node-build after it has been installed, run git pull in your cloned copy of the repository, then re-run the install script.

Installing with Homebrew (for OS X users)

Mac OS X users can install node-build with the Homebrew package manager. This will give you access to the node-build command. If you have nodenv installed, you will also be able to use the nodenv install command.

This is the recommended method of installation if you installed nodenv with Homebrew.

brew install node-build

Or, if you would like to install the latest development release:

brew install --HEAD node-build

To upgrade the HEAD package use --fetch-HEAD option:

brew upgrade --fetch-HEAD node-build

Usage

Before you begin, you should ensure that your build environment has the proper system dependencies for compiling the wanted Node version (see Node's prerequisites). (This is unnecessary if you only intend to install official binaries.)

Using nodenv install with nodenv

To install a Node version for use with nodenv, run nodenv install with the exact name of the version you want to install. For example,

nodenv install 4.2.1

Node versions will be installed into a directory of the same name under $(nodenv root)/versions.

To see a list of all available Node versions, run nodenv install --list. You may also tab-complete available Node versions if your nodenv installation is properly configured.

Using node-build standalone

If you have installed node-build as a standalone program, you can use the node-build command to compile and install Node versions into specific locations.

Run the node-build command with the exact name of the version you want to install and the full path where you want to install it. For example,

node-build 4.2.1 ~/local/node-4.2.1

To see a list of all available Node versions, run node-build --definitions.

Pass the -v or --verbose flag to node-build as the first argument to see what's happening under the hood.

Custom definitions

Both nodenv install and node-build accept a path to a custom definition file in place of a version name. Custom definitions let you develop and install versions of Node that are not yet supported by node-build.

See the node-build built-in definitions as a starting point for custom definition files.

Binaries

By default, node-build will attempt to match one of the precompiled binaries to your platform. If there is a binary for your platform, it will install it instead of compiling from source. To force compilation, pass the -c or --compile flag.

Special environment variables

You can set certain environment variables to control the build process.

• TMPDIR sets the location where node-build stores temporary files.
• NODE_BUILD_BUILD_PATH sets the location in which sources are downloaded and built. By default, this is a subdirectory of TMPDIR.
• NODE_BUILD_CACHE_PATH, if set, specifies a directory to use for caching downloaded package files.
• NODE_BUILD_MIRROR_CMD provide a command to construct the package mirror URL.
• NODE_BUILD_MIRROR_URL select a mirror from which to download packages instead of their original source URLs.
• NODE_BUILD_SKIP_MIRROR, if set, forces node-build to download packages from their original source URLs instead of using a mirror.
• NODE_BUILD_ROOT overrides the default location from where build definitions in share/node-build/ are looked up.
• NODE_BUILD_DEFINITIONS can be a list of colon-separated paths that get additionally searched when looking up build definitions.
• CC sets the path to the C compiler.
• CONFIGURE_OPTS lets you pass additional options to ./configure.
• MAKE lets you override the command to use for make. Useful for specifying GNU make (gmake) on some systems.
• MAKE_OPTS (or MAKEOPTS) lets you pass additional options to make.
• MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS lets you pass additional options to make install.
• NODE_CONFIGURE_OPTS, NODE_MAKE_OPTS and NODE_MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS allow you to specify configure and make options for buildling Node. These variables will be passed to Node only, not any dependent packages (e.g. v8).

Applying patches to Node before compiling

Both nodenv install and node-build support the --patch (-p) flag that signals that a patch from stdin should be applied to Node or iojs source code before the ./configure and compilation steps.

Example usage:

# applying a single patch
$ nodenv install --patch 0.10.36 < /path/to/node.patch

# applying a patch from HTTP
$ nodenv install --patch 0.10.36 < <(curl -sSL http://git.io/node.patch)

# applying multiple patches
$ cat fix1.patch fix2.patch | nodenv install --patch 0.10.36

Checksum verification

If you have the shasum, openssl, or sha256sum tool installed, node-build will automatically verify the SHA2 checksum of each downloaded package before installing it.

Checksums are optional and specified as anchors on the package URL in each definition. (All bundled definitions include checksums.)

Package download mirrors

You can point node-build to another mirror by specifying the NODE_BUILD_MIRROR_URL environment variable--useful if you'd like to run your own local mirror, for example. Package mirror URLs are constructed by invoking NODE_BUILD_MIRROR_CMD with two arguments: package_url and checksum. The provided command should print the desired mirror's package URL. If NODE_BUILD_MIRROR_CMD is unset, package mirror URL construction defaults to simply replacing https://nodejs.org/dist with NODE_BUILD_MIRROR_URL.

If you don't have an SHA2 program installed, node-build will skip the download mirror and use official URLs instead. You can force node-build to bypass the mirror by setting the NODE_BUILD_SKIP_MIRROR environment variable.

Package download caching

You can instruct node-build to keep a local cache of downloaded package files by setting the NODE_BUILD_CACHE_PATH environment variable. When set, package files will be kept in this directory after the first successful download and reused by subsequent invocations of node-build and nodenv install.

The nodenv install command defaults this path to $(nodenv root)/cache, so in most cases you can enable download caching simply by creating that directory.

Keeping the build directory after installation

Both node-build and nodenv install accept the -k or --keep flag, which tells node-build to keep the downloaded source after installation. This can be useful if you need to use gdb and memprof with Node.

Source code will be kept in a parallel directory tree $(nodenv root)/sources when using --keep with the nodenv install command. You should specify the location of the source code with the NODE_BUILD_BUILD_PATH environment variable when using --keep with node-build.

Update available build versions

To grab the latest versions from nodejs.org and generate definition files for node-build to use, check out the node-build-update-defs plugin. Once installed:

nodenv update-version-defs

No need to wait for node-build to provide the latest definitions!

Getting Help

Please see the node-build wiki for solutions to common problems.

If you can't find an answer on the wiki, open an issue on the issue tracker. Be sure to include the full build log for build failures.

Credits

Forked from Sam Stephenson's ruby-build by Will McKenzie and modified for node.