Add 'configure', 'build' and 'clean' hooks.

[TooTallNate]

For more complex module build systems, like node-ffi, where the bundled libffi also needs to be configured and built, there should be hooks into the build steps for modules. The hooks should be node JavaScript files and will need to manually take care of platform differences in their scripts.

I'm thinking that these should be hard-coded script names (i.e. gyp-configure.js, gyp-build.js, and gyp-clean.js) which would be run if they exist, before the rest of the step.

[edhemphill]

second this request... really useful if you need custom libraries outside your normal directories, etc.

[TooTallNate]

I don't really think this is needed anymore. It's possible to hook into "configure" and "build" using just gyp features (see node-ffi's binding.gyp file), so I'm gonna close.

[edhemphill]

Gotcha, yes found this out recently. thanks!

[rchipka]

This would still be useful since gyp's 'actions' are finicky on Windows builds

[rchipka]

I think we should re-open this issue.

Having a reliable way of implementing cross-platform pre/post build steps would be very helpful for more complex native module builds.

Building libxmljs fully from scratch requires several stages that could be automated with proper hooks.

We currently package large source files that could be generated on the fly as-needed, while keeping our NPM footprint as small as possible.

GYP-based solutions aren't working, not to mention GYP itself is really showing it's age.