Homebrew formulae for JavaScript engines

[mathiasbynens]

Being able to install stable versions of major ECMAScript engines through Homebrew would make it much easier to set up eshost on macOS, and to just test them out in general. The easier it is to install these engines, the more likely developers are to play around with them and file bugs.

Let’s create Homebrew formulae for each of them!

• V8
  • Formula for v5.1.281.47 (outdated)
  • PR to update formula to v5.8.48 by @oaleynik
  • PR for new v8@5.8 formula by @pinepain
  • Recommended: brew install v8 --with-icu4c --with-readline
  • Request to host pre-built binaries for each OS/arch somewhere official
• ChakraCore
  • PR: chakra 1.4.0 (new formula) Homebrew/homebrew-core#9323
  • Recommended: brew install chakra --with-icu4c
  • Request to host pre-built binaries for each OS/arch somewhere official
  • Request to add -v/--version to binary
• SpiderMonkey (jsshell)
  • Formula for outdated version: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/spidermonkey.rb
  • Should be updated based on https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/tinderbox-builds/mozilla-release-macosx64/1486087028/jsshell-mac.zip where 1486087028 is the build number — PR: spidermonkey @ 1486087028 Homebrew/homebrew-core#9607
  • Request to host pre-built binaries for each OS/arch somewhere official
  • brew install spidermonkey
• JavaScriptCore (jsc)
  • Request to add -v/--version to jsc binary
  • https://trac.webkit.org/wiki/JavaScriptCore
  • not a priority, as a version is available at /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaScriptCore.framework/Versions/A/Resources/jsc
• Nashorn
  • https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/Nashorn/Building+Nashorn

Please leave a comment if you want to work on any of these.

[ariya]

Is Nashorn necessary in this case? Installing JDK already gives jrunscript, a JS shell utilizing Nashorn.

Example: http://esprima.readthedocs.io/en/3.1/getting-started.html#using-esprima-with-rhino-or-nashorn.

[oaleynik]

@mathiasbynens thanks for this! Question: currently it installs version 5.1.281.47. Is there any way to install the latest V8?

[mathiasbynens]

@oaleynik Someone needs to update the formula for V8. The process is fairly straight-forward — are you up for it? https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#submit-a-version-upgrade-for-the-foo-formula

[oaleynik]

@mathiasbynens I see someone have submitted PR for 5.4: Homebrew/homebrew-core#7168

Also there is a formula for 5.7:
https://github.com/pinepain/homebrew-devtools/blob/master/Formula/v8%405.7.rb

[oaleynik]

@mathiasbynens working on PR now. Will update to 5.8.57

[mathiasbynens]

@oaleynik Please post a link to the PR here once it’s ready!

[oaleynik]

@mathiasbynens will do! I don't have the fast network link here so fetching v8 takes a lot of time :)
I'm actually making formula to build 5.8.48 as default and build latest with --HEAD option

[oaleynik]

@mathiasbynens Homebrew/homebrew-core#9343

[oaleynik]

I'm not sure is it ok to export d8 executable only though

[mathiasbynens]

ChakraCore can now be installed with Homebrew! OP updated.

[mathiasbynens]

I’ve started to file requests to host each engine’s pre-built binaries for each OS/arch somewhere official.

• V8: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/v8/issues/detail?id=5918
• ChakraCore: Make official ChakraCore binaries easily available to developers on *nix platforms. (e.g. deb and brew feeds) chakra-core/ChakraCore#2278 (comment)
• SpiderMonkey: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1336514

This would simplify the Homebrew formulae and would drastically improve brew install $engine performance since we‘d then no longer have to build from source.

[pinepain]

Thank you very much! It would be great if they help us, packaging should cost nothing to them after binaries are actually built.

[mathiasbynens]

Since binary formulae aren’t welcome in homebrew-core, I’ve created a tap where such formulae can be hosted: https://github.com/mathiasbynens/homebrew-ecmascript

[mathiasbynens]

…and jsvu now solves this problem in a much better way. 🎉