Node.js Packer

Packing your Node.js application into a single executable.

Features

• Works on Linux, Mac and Windows
• Creates a binary distribution of your application
• Supports natively any form of require, including dynamic ones (e.g. require(myPath + 'module.js')
• Supports any module, including direct download and compilation from npm
• Native C++ modules are fully supported
• Features zero-config auto-update capabilities to make your compiled project to stay updated
• Open Source, MIT Licensed

Get Started

It takes less than 5 minutes to compile any project with node-compiler.

You won't need to modify a single line of code in your application, no matter how you developed it as long as it works in plain node.js!

Operating System	Architecture	Latest Stable
Windows	x86-64	http://enclose.io/nodec/nodec-x64.zip
macOS	x86-64	http://enclose.io/nodec/nodec-darwin-x64.gz
Linux	x86-64	http://enclose.io/nodec/nodec-linux-x64.gz

For previous releases, cf. http://enclose.io/nodec

Install on Windows

First install the prerequisites:

• SquashFS Tools 4.3
• Python 2.6 or 2.7
• Either of,
  • Visual Studio 2015 Update 3, all editions including the Community edition (remember to select "Common Tools for Visual C++ 2015" feature during installation).
  • Visual Studio 2017, any edition (including the Build Tools SKU). Required Components: "MSbuild", "VC++ 2017 v141 toolset" and one of the Windows SDKs (10 or 8.1).

Please take note that Visual Studio 2019 is NOT supported for now.

Then download nodec-x64.zip, and this zip file contains only one executable. Unzip it. Optionally, rename it to nodec.exe and put it under C:\Windows (or any other directory that is part of PATH). Execute nodec from the command line.

NOTE: This zip file (nodec-x64.zip) contains an outdated version of nodec (nodec 1.5.0 with Node.js 8.3.0). The original maintainer did not specify how to build this repo into single executable, therefore newer versions can only be run on source code directly.

Install on Linux

First install the prerequisites:

• SquashFS Tools 4.3
  • sudo yum install squashfs-tools
  • sudo apt-get install squashfs-tools
• gcc and g++ 4.9.4 or newer, or
• clang and clang++ 3.4.2 or newer
• Python 2.6 or 2.7
• GNU Make 3.81 or newer

Then,

curl -L http://enclose.io/nodec/nodec-linux-x64.gz | gunzip > nodec
chmod +x nodec
./nodec

NOTE: This gz file (nodec-linux-x64.gz) contains an outdated version of nodec (nodec 1.5.0 with Node.js 8.3.0). The original maintainer did not specify how to build this repo into single executable, therefore newer versions can only be run on source code directly.

Additional Notes on the compatibility between RHEL based (CentOS) / Ubuntu

It is known that the default repo for Red Hat and CentOS distros contains a very outdated gcc / g++ (3.8.5) while the latest Long Term Support (LTS) of Ubuntu as of 15 Feb 2018 (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS) contains a relatively updated gcc / g++ (7.3.0).

It is known that compilation can fail when using unsupported configuration where the version of prerequisites is older than prescribed.

Therefore, it is crucial for the users of Red Hat based distros to install gcc / g++ outside from official repos. For starters, one may look at:

• https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2018/07/07/yum-install-gcc7-clang/
• http://blog.stevedoria.net/20180214/how-to-install-gcc-7-on-centos-7

Additionally, binaries that are compiled from Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is known NOT to work in Red Hat 7 based distro (Including CentOS) due to 'glibcxx_3.4.20' not found' related error. However, binaries that are compiled from either Red Hat or CentOS 7 are known to work with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS based on my internal experiment.

Having said that, I will still recommend that binaries distributors should compile 2 versions for Linux where one caters for RHEL based and the other for Ubuntu based.

Additional Notes on Build failure in Linux

According to recent Travis Build, Linux has been failing to build since nodec-1.6.0-10.16.0 (Node.js 10.16.0). The root cause is yet to be determined, and the last known good build is 10.15.3 which can be downloaded here: https://github.com/slee047/node-packer/releases/tag/1.6.0-10.15.3-1

The issue can be found here: https://github.com/slee047/node-packer/issues/11

Install on macOS

First install the prerequisites:

• SquashFS Tools 4.3: brew install squashfs
• Xcode
  • You also need to install the Command Line Tools via Xcode. You can find this under the menu Xcode -> Preferences -> Downloads
  • This step will install gcc and the related toolchain containing make
  • Do not use XCode 11 (Beta) until further notice
• Python 2.6 or 2.7
• GNU Make 3.81 or newer

Then,

curl -L http://enclose.io/nodec/nodec-darwin-x64.gz | gunzip > nodec
chmod +x nodec
./nodec

NOTE: This gz file (nodec-darwin-x64.gz) contains an outdated version of nodec (nodec 1.5.0 with Node.js 8.3.0). The original maintainer did not specify how to build this repo into single executable, therefore newer versions can only be run on source code directly.

Additional Notes on Build failure in macOS XCode 11

According to recent Travis Build, the test cases will fail shortly after its launch occurs when the Build Environement is XCode 11. Currently, it is not known whether the issue is caused by XCode 11 or other factors within Travis CI that may not impact on actual macOS deployment.

Therefore, the build environment for macOS under Travis is XCode 10.2 so as to ensure the test case can be successfully executed and completed.

Usage

nodec [OPTION]... [ENTRANCE]
  -r, --root=DIR                   Specifies the path to the root of the application
  -o, --output=FILE                Specifies the path of the output file
  -d, --tmpdir=DIR                 Specifies the directory for temporary files
      --clean-tmpdir               Cleans all temporary files that were generated last time
      --keep-tmpdir                Keeps all temporary files that were generated last time
      --make-args=ARGS             Passes extra arguments to make
      --vcbuild-args=ARGS          Passes extra arguments to vcbuild.bat
  -n, --npm=FILE                   Specifies the path of npm
      --skip-npm-install           Skips the npm install process
      --npm-package=NAME           Downloads and compiles the specified npm package
      --npm-package-version=VER    Downloads and compiles the specified version of the npm package
      --auto-update-url=URL        Enables auto-update and specifies the URL to get the latest version
      --auto-update-base=STRING    Enables auto-update and specifies the base version string
      --msi                        Generates a .msi installer for Windows
      --pkg                        Generates a .pkg installer for macOS
      --debug                      Enable debug mode
      --quiet                      Enable quiet mode
  -v, --version                    Prints the version of nodec and exit
  -V, --node-version               Prints the version of the Node.js runtime and exit
  -h, --help                       Prints this help and exit

Note: if ENTRANCE was not provided, then a single Node.js interpreter executable will be produced.

Note: To compile to 32-bit windows OS compatible programs on a 64-bit machine, you should use a x64 x32 cross compiling environment. You should be able to find it in your Start Menu after installing Visual Studio. Also, you have to use a 32-bit Node.js, because the arch information is detected via node -pe process.arch.

Examples

Compile a CLI tool

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript.git
cd coffeescript
nodec bin/coffee
./a.out (or a.exe on Windows)

Compile a web application

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/eggjs/examples.git
cd examples/helloworld
npm install
nodec node_modules/egg-bin/bin/egg-bin.js
./a.out dev (or a.exe dev on Windows)

Compile a npm package

nodec --npm-package=coffee-script coffee
./a.out (or a.exe on Windows)

Learn More

How it works

• Node.js Compiler: compiling your Node.js application into a single executable.

Comparing with Similar Projects

Project	Differences
pkg	Pkg hacked fs.* API's dynamically in order to access in-package files, whereas Node.js Compiler leaves them alone and instead works on a deeper level via libsquash. Pkg uses JSON to store in-package files while Node.js Compiler uses the more sophisticated and widely used SquashFS as its data structure.
EncloseJS	EncloseJS restricts access to in-package files to only five fs.* API's, whereas Node.js Compiler supports all fs.* API's. EncloseJS is proprietary licensed and charges money when used while Node.js Compiler is MIT-licensed and users are both free to use it and free to modify it.
Nexe	Nexe does not support dynamic require because of its use of browserify, whereas Node.js Compiler supports all kinds of require including require.resolve.
asar	Asar keeps the code archive and the executable separate while Node.js Compiler links all JavaScript source code together with the Node.js virtual machine and generates a single executable as the final product. Asar uses JSON to store files' information while Node.js Compiler uses SquashFS.
AppImage	AppImage supports only Linux with a kernel that supports SquashFS, while Node.js Compiler supports all three platforms of Linux, macOS and Windows, meanwhile without any special feature requirements from the kernel.

See Also

• Libsquash: portable, user-land SquashFS that can be easily linked and embedded within your application.
• Libautoupdate: cross-platform C library to enable your application to auto-update itself in place.