Building node.js on Cygwin (Windows)

Building node.js on Cygwin (Windows)

This tutorial will guide you through setting up the latest stable version of node.js on Cygwin. You don't need to have a working Cygwin install.

1. Grab and install Cygwin.

2. Using setup.exe from Cygwin (1), install the following packages required to compile node.js:

   • devel → gcc-g++
   • devel → git
   • devel → make
   • devel → openssl
   • libs → openssl-devel
   • devel → pkg-config
   • devel → zlib-devel
   • python → python

   You may also want to install the following:

   • editors → vim or editors → nano for (4) below
   • web → curl if you wish to install npm, node's package manager

   You can use the search box at the top-left to locate packages quickly.

3. It's time to clone the Git repository and build node.js. Start a new Cygwin shell (bash, zsh, etc.), open Start → Cygwin → Cygwin Bash Shell. Run the following commands:

   $ cd ~
   $ git clone git://github.com/ry/node.git
   $ cd node
   $ git fetch --all
   # if the above fails complaining --all is not recognised, try: git fetch origin
   $ git tag
   $ git checkout [latest stable tag from previous command, e.g., v0.2.5]
   $ ./configure
   $ make
   $ make install
   

   It is recommended you checkout a stable tag since most of the time building master fails. If you receive an error at any of the above steps, look further down for possible solutions.

4. Set up Domain Name Resolution (DNS)

   Cygwin internally uses Windows for DNS queries. node.js uses the c-ares library that relies on /etc/resolv.conf. Cygwin ships with an empty /etc/resolv.conf. In order to enabled networking from your scripts, add these IPs to the file (Google Public DNS):

   $ vim /etc/resolv.conf
   
   nameserver 8.8.8.8
   nameserver 8.8.4.4
   

For Vim newbies: use i to enter insert mode, <Esc>:wq to exit insert mode, enter the command window, write and quit. If you are uncomfortable with Vim, use nano /etc/resolv.conf instead.

Build Problems

python.exe: Can't Open File 'waf-light':

C:\Program Files\Python26\python.exe: can't open file '/home/stan/node/tools/waf-light': [Errno 2] No such file or directory

This is not an issue with node.js. You are using the Windows version of python in Cygwin. It doesn't know how to process Cygwin style path names. You need to remove the Windows version (or make sure is not in the PATH) and install the Cygwin version of Python using setup.exe.

# Update PATH before running ./configure for node.js
export PATH=/usr/bin:$PATH

Unable to Remap to Same Address as Parent

fatal error – unable to remap \\?\C:\cygwin\lib\python2.6\lib-dynload\time.dll to same address as parent: 0×360000 != 0×3E0000

This is not an issue with node.js either. Install base → rebase using setup.exe first then close all Cygwin instances. Start dash or ash (located in the bin directory under Cygwin's installation) and run:

$ /bin/rebaseall -v

Once you are done, restart your PC. Remember to close all open Cygwin shells before using rebaseall.

../deps/v8/tools/jsmin.py SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Cygwin uses a different way of handling symlinks than a regular Unix system. If you cloned node.js using msysGit it's likely you'll end up here as well. Open up jsmin.py in an editor – you will see the actual path it needs to be symlinked to. To address this, start a new Cygwin shell and cd to the cloned node.js directory. Run:

# from the node.js cloned repository directory, run:
$ cd tools
$ ln -fs `cat jsmin.py`
$ cd ..

Re-run ./configure.

Exception: supported architectures are arm, ia32, x64 but NOT 'x86'.

Cygwin is returning the wrong CPU architecture (usually uname from minGw gets in the way). Use the dest-cpu flag with the value of ia32:

$ ./configure --dest-cpu=ia32

Unable to remap error when running configure

./configure

0 [main] python 3968 C:\cygwin\bin\python.exe: *** fatal error - 
   unable to remap \\?\C:\cygwin\lib\python2.6\lib-dynload\time.dll to same 
   address as parent: 0x360000 != 0x3E0000
1 [main] python 8064 fork: child 3968 - died waiting for dll 
   loading, errno 11
   /c/bin/node.js.git.files/node/wscript:132: error: could not configure a 
   c compiler!

To solve the above issue you need to run the rebaseall command. In order to run rebase all you will need to exit all cygwin windows and any cygwin processes. Then open up the windows command line and run the following.

cd \cygwin\bin
ash
PATH=. rebaseall -v

If this results in an error like...

rebaseall:'/cygdrive/c/Users/ADMINI~1/AppData/Local/Temp' is not writable

Then open up a cygwin window and run chmod 777 on the directory

chmod 777 ~/AppData/Local/Temp

Then close that window and run the rebase all command from above. Once this has been completed you will be able to open up cygwin again and run the ./configure command.

Help! I've done EVERYTHING above and I'm still having issues…

If you have followed all of the steps above and you still need further help, pop into the #node.js IRC channel on irc.freenode.net.