cmake-ts

A CMake-based build system for native NodeJS and Electron addons.

This project is loosely inspired by cmake-js but attempts to fix several design flaws.

It is intended to prebuild addons for different versions of NodeJS and Electron and ship a binary version.

Configuration

Configuration is done entirely via package.json. You can specify multiple build configurations under the cmake-ts key:

"cmake-ts": {
  "nodeAPI": "node-addon-api" // Specify the node API package such as `node-addon-api`, `nan`, or the path to a directory that has the nodeAPI header. By default `nan` is considered.
  "configurations": [
    {
      "os": "win32", // win32, linux and darwin are supported
      "arch": "x64", // x64, x86 should work
      "runtime": "electron", // node or electron
      "runtimeVersion": "4.0.1", // Version of the runtime which it is built
      "toolchainFile": "/windows.cmake" // CMake Toolchain file to use for crosscompiling
    }, // more build configurations...
    {
      "os": "linux", // win32, linux and darwin are supported
      "arch": "x64", // x64, x86 should work
      "runtime": "node", // node or electron
      "runtimeVersion": "10.3.0", // Version of the runtime which it is built
    } // more build configurations ...
  ],
  "targetDirectory": "build", // where to build your project
  "buildType": "Release", // Debug or Release build, most likely set it to Release
  "projectName": "addon" // The name of your CMake project.
  "globalCMakeOptions": [{ // this might be omitted of no further options should be passed to CMake
    "name": "CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS",
    "value": "-Og"
  }, {
    "name": "CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS",
    "value": "-I$ROOT$/include", // $ROOT$ will be replaced by the package.json directory
  }, {
      "name": "CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS",
      "value": "1"
  }]
}

Workflow

While it is desirable to perform a full build (all configurations) within a CI environment, long build times hinder local package development. Therefore cmake-ts knows not only the build target but also two other targets:

• nativeonly -> Builds the native code only for the runtime cmake-ts is currently running on, ignoring all previously specified configurations. This is useful if you'd like to run some unit tests against the compiled code. When running cmake-ts nativeonly, cmake-ts will determine the runtime, ABI, and platform from the environment, and build only the configuration required to run on this platform.
  • Example using the configuration above
  • You run cmake-ts nativeonly on NodeJS 11.7 on MacOS, cmake-ts will ignore all specified configurations above and build the native addon for NodeJS 11.7 on MacOS
• osonly -> Builds the native code for all configurations which match the current operating system. This is useful for those developing for example an electron addon and want to test their code in electron. In such a case, you would specify electron and NodeJS runtimes for several platforms in your configuration and you can use cmake-ts osonly to build a local package you can install in your application.
  • Example using the configuration above
  • You run cmake-ts osonly on NodeJS 11.7 on Linux, cmake-ts will ignore all configurations above where os != linux and build the native addon for all remaining configurations, in this case it will build for NodeJS 10.3 on Linux.
• HINT: For both osonly and nativeonly, the specified CMake Toolchain files are ignored since I assume you got your toolchain set up correctly for your own operating system.

Cross Compilation

This module supports cross-compilation from Linux to macOS and Windows, given a correct toolchain setup. There is a docker container that has a cross-toolchain based on CLang 7 setup for Windows and macOS which might be used in a CI.

Docker Image