node-gyp

Depending on your operating system, you need to install specific build tools:

Unix

• A supported version of Python
• make
• A C/C++ compiler toolchain (e.g., GCC)

macOS

• A supported version of Python
• Xcode Command Line Tools (installs clang, clang++, and make). Install via xcode-select --install or through the Xcode menu.

Windows

Using Chocolatey:

choco install python visualstudio2022-workload-vctools -y

Manual Installation:

• Install Python.
• Install Visual C++ Build Environment:
  • For Visual Studio 2019 or later: Use the Desktop development with C++ workload from Visual Studio Community.
  • For older versions: Install Visual Studio Build Tools with the Visual C++ build tools option.
• Windows on ARM: Add "Visual C++ compilers and libraries for ARM64" and "Visual C++ ATL for ARM64". Ensure Visual Studio 2022 [17.4 or later] is installed to use the native ARM64 C++ compiler.
• Recommended: Install the VSSetup PowerShell module to improve Visual Studio detection: Install-Module VSSetup -Scope CurrentUser.

Native addons requiring OpenSSL should account for whether Node.js uses a shared system OpenSSL or a statically bundled version. Use the node_shared_openssl variable to determine the include paths. When node_shared_openssl is false, you must include the headers from the Node.js internal OpenSSL directory, which varies based on the target_arch (ia32, x64, or arm).

{
  'variables': {
    'node_shared_openssl%': 'true'
  },
  'targets': [
    {
      'target_name': 'binding',
      'sources': [
        'src/binding.cc'
      ],
      'conditions': [
        ['node_shared_openssl=="false"', {
          'include_dirs': [
            '<(node_root_dir)/deps/openssl/openssl/include'
          ],
          "conditions" : [
            ["target_arch=='ia32'", {
              "include_dirs": [ "<(node_root_dir)/deps/openssl/config/piii" ]
            }],
            ["target_arch=='x64'", {
              "include_dirs": [ "<(node_root_dir)/deps/openssl/config/k8" ]
            }],
            ["target_arch=='arm'", {
              "include_dirs": [ "<(node_root_dir)/deps/openssl/config/arm" ]
            }]
          ]
        }]
      ]
    }
  ]
}

When using a Node.js version with a -pre suffix, you must specify the Node.js source code directory path using the --nodedir flag during the build process.

Using node-gyp directly

If you are invoking node-gyp manually, pass the --nodedir flag followed by the path to your Node.js source:

$ node-gyp rebuild --nodedir=/path/to/node/source

Using npm

If you are installing a package via npm that requires compilation, pass the flag through npm:

$ npm install <package-name> --nodedir=/path/to/node/source

Persistent configuration via npm config

To avoid specifying the flag for every installation, you can set the nodedir in your npm configuration:

$ npm config set nodedir /path/to/node/source

$ node-gyp rebuild --nodedir=/Users/nrajlich/node

$ npm install bcrypt --nodedir=/Users/nrajlich/node

$ npm config set nodedir /Users/nrajlich/node

On Windows, OpenSSL is statically compiled into the Node.js executable, making it difficult to use the bundled version directly. A common workaround is to use a separate OpenSSL installation. You can configure this in your binding.gyp by defining an openssl_root variable based on the target_arch and then specifying the libraries and include_dirs relative to that root.

    [ 'OS=="win"', {
      'conditions': [
        # "openssl_root" is the directory on Windows of the OpenSSL files.
        # Check the "target_arch" variable to set good default values for
        # both 64-bit and 32-bit builds of the module.
        ['target_arch=="x64"', {
          'variables': {
            'openssl_root%': 'C:/OpenSSL-Win64'
          },
        }, {
          'variables': {
            'openssl_root%': 'C:/OpenSSL-Win32'
          },
        }],
      ],
      'libraries': [ 
        '-l<(openssl_root)/lib/libeay32.lib',
      ],
      'include_dirs': [
        '<(openssl_root)/include',
      ],
    }]