# Building Node.js Depending on what platform or features you need, the build process may differ. After you've built a binary, running the test suite to confirm that the binary works as intended is a good next step. If you can reproduce a test failure, search for it in the [Node.js issue tracker](https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues) or file a new issue. ## Table of Contents * [Supported platforms](#supported-platforms) * [Input](#input) * [Strategy](#strategy) * [Supported platforms](#supported-platforms-1) * [Supported toolchains](#supported-toolchains) * [Unix](#unix) * [AIX](#aix) * [Windows](#windows) * [OpenSSL asm support](#openssl-asm-support) * [Building Node.js on supported platforms](#building-nodejs-on-supported-platforms) * [Unix/macOS](#unixmacos) * [Prerequisites](#prerequisites) * [Building Node.js](#building-nodejs-1) * [Running Tests](#running-tests) * [Running Coverage](#running-coverage) * [Building the documentation](#building-the-documentation) * [Building a debug build](#building-a-debug-build) * [Windows](#windows-1) * [Android/Android-based devices (e.g. Firefox OS)](#androidandroid-based-devices-eg-firefox-os) * [`Intl` (ECMA-402) support](#intl-ecma-402-support) * [Default: `small-icu` (English only) support](#default-small-icu-english-only-support) * [Build with full ICU support (all locales supported by ICU)](#build-with-full-icu-support-all-locales-supported-by-icu) * [Unix/macOS](#unixmacos-1) * [Windows](#windows-2) * [Building without Intl support](#building-without-intl-support) * [Unix/macOS](#unixmacos-2) * [Windows](#windows-3) * [Use existing installed ICU (Unix/macOS only)](#use-existing-installed-icu-unixmacos-only) * [Build with a specific ICU](#build-with-a-specific-icu) * [Unix/macOS](#unixmacos-3) * [Windows](#windows-4) * [Building Node.js with FIPS-compliant OpenSSL](#building-nodejs-with-fips-compliant-openssl) * [Building Node.js with external core modules](#building-nodejs-with-external-core-modules) * [Unix/macOS](#unixmacos-4) * [Windows](#windows-5) ## Supported platforms This list of supported platforms is current as of the branch/release to which it belongs. ### Input Node.js relies on V8 and libuv. We adopt a subset of their supported platforms. ### Strategy There are three support tiers: * **Tier 1**: Full test coverage and maintenance by the Node.js core team and the broader community. * **Tier 2**: Full test coverage. Limited maintenance, often provided by the vendor of the platform. * **Experimental**: May not compile or test suite may not pass. These are often approaching Tier 2 support but are not quite ready. There is at least one individual providing maintenance. ### Supported platforms For production applications, run Node.js on supported platforms only. Node.js does not support a platform version if a vendor has expired support for it. In other words, Node.js does not support running on End-of-life (EoL) platforms. This is true regardless of entries in the table below. | System | Support type | Version | Architectures | Notes | | ------------ | ------------ | ------------------------------- | ---------------- | ----------------------------- | | GNU/Linux | Tier 1 | kernel >= 2.6.32, glibc >= 2.12 | x64, arm | | | GNU/Linux | Tier 1 | kernel >= 3.10, glibc >= 2.17 | arm64 | | | macOS/OS X | Tier 1 | >= 10.11 | x64 | | | Windows | Tier 1 | >= Windows 7/2008 R2/2012 R2 | x86, x64 | [2](#fn2),[3](#fn3),[4](#fn4) | | SmartOS | Tier 2 | >= 15 < 16.4 | x86, x64 | [1](#fn1) | | FreeBSD | Tier 2 | >= 11 | x64 | | | GNU/Linux | Tier 2 | kernel >= 3.13.0, glibc >= 2.19 | ppc64le >=power8 | | | AIX | Tier 2 | >= 7.1 TL04 | ppc64be >=power7 | | | GNU/Linux | Tier 2 | kernel >= 3.10, glibc >= 2.17 | s390x | | | GNU/Linux | Experimental | kernel >= 2.6.32, glibc >= 2.12 | x86 | limited CI | | Linux (musl) | Experimental | musl >= 1.0 | x64 | | 1: The gcc4.8-libs package needs to be installed, because node binaries have been built with GCC 4.8, for which runtime libraries are not installed by default. For these node versions, the recommended binaries are the ones available in pkgsrc, not the one available from nodejs.org. Note that the binaries downloaded from the pkgsrc repositories are not officially supported by the Node.js project, and instead are supported by Joyent. SmartOS images >= 16.4 are not supported because GCC 4.8 runtime libraries are not available in their pkgsrc repository 2: Tier 1 support for building on Windows is only on 64-bit hosts. Support is experimental for 32-bit hosts. 3: On Windows, running Node.js in Windows terminal emulators like `mintty` requires the usage of [winpty](https://github.com/rprichard/winpty) for the tty channels to work correctly (e.g. `winpty node.exe script.js`). In "Git bash" if you call the node shell alias (`node` without the `.exe` extension), `winpty` is used automatically. 4: The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is not directly supported, but the GNU/Linux build process and binaries should work. The community will only address issues that reproduce on native GNU/Linux systems. Issues that only reproduce on WSL should be reported in the [WSL issue tracker](https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues). Running the Windows binary (`node.exe`) in WSL is not recommended. It will not work without workarounds such as stdio redirection. ### Supported toolchains Depending on the host platform, the selection of toolchains may vary. #### Unix * GCC 4.9.4 or newer * Clang 3.4.2 or newer #### AIX * GCC 6.3 or newer #### Windows * Visual Studio 2017 with the Windows 10 SDK on a 64-bit host. #### OpenSSL asm support OpenSSL-1.1.1 requires the following assembler version for use of asm support on x86_64 and ia32. For use of AVX-512, * gas (GNU assembler) version 2.26 or higher * nasm version 2.11.8 or higher in Windows Note that AVX-512 is disabled for Skylake-X by OpenSSL-1.1.1. For use of AVX2, * gas (GNU assembler) version 2.23 or higher * Xcode version 5.0 or higher * llvm version 3.3 or higher * nasm version 2.10 or higher in Windows Please refer to https://www.openssl.org/docs/man1.1.1/man3/OPENSSL_ia32cap.html for details. If compiling without one of the above, use `configure` with the `--openssl-no-asm` flag. Otherwise, `configure` will fail. ## Building Node.js on supported platforms The [bootstrapping guide](https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/tools/bootstrap/README.md) explains how to install all prerequisites. ### Unix/macOS #### Prerequisites * `gcc` and `g++` 4.9.4 or newer, or * `clang` and `clang++` 3.4.2 or newer (macOS: latest Xcode Command Line Tools) * Python 2.7 * Python 2.7 end of life is in 2019 so a transition to Python 3 is underway. * Python 3.5, 3.6, and 3.7 are experimental. * GNU Make 3.81 or newer On macOS, install the `Xcode Command Line Tools` by running `xcode-select --install`. Alternatively, if you already have the full Xcode installed, you can find them under the menu `Xcode -> Open Developer Tool -> More Developer Tools...`. This step will install `clang`, `clang++`, and `make`. If the path to your build directory contains a space, the build will likely fail. On FreeBSD and OpenBSD, you may also need: * libexecinfo #### Building Node.js To build Node.js: ```console $ ./configure $ make -j4 ``` The `-j4` option will cause `make` to run 4 simultaneous compilation jobs which may reduce build time. For more information, see the [GNU Make Documentation](https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Parallel.html). Note that the above requires that `python` resolve to Python 2.7 and not a newer version. See [Prerequisites](#prerequisites). After building, setting up [firewall rules](tools/macos-firewall.sh) can avoid popups asking to accept incoming network connections when running tests. Running the following script on macOS will add the firewall rules for the executable `node` in the `out` directory and the symbolic `node` link in the project's root directory. ```console $ sudo ./tools/macos-firewall.sh ``` #### Running Tests To verify the build: ```console $ make test-only ``` At this point, you are ready to make code changes and re-run the tests. If you are running tests before submitting a Pull Request, the recommended command is: ```console $ make -j4 test ``` `make -j4 test` does a full check on the codebase, including running linters and documentation tests. Make sure the linter does not report any issues and that all tests pass. Please do not submit patches that fail either check. If you want to run the linter without running tests, use `make lint`/`vcbuild lint`. It will run both JavaScript linting and C++ linting. If you are updating tests and just want to run a single test to check it: ```text $ python tools/test.py -J --mode=release parallel/test-stream2-transform ``` You can execute the entire suite of tests for a given subsystem by providing the name of a subsystem: ```text $ python tools/test.py -J --mode=release child-process ``` If you want to check the other options, please refer to the help by using the `--help` option: ```text $ python tools/test.py --help ``` You can usually run tests directly with node: ```text $ ./node ./test/parallel/test-stream2-transform.js ``` Remember to recompile with `make -j4` in between test runs if you change code in the `lib` or `src` directories. The tests attempt to detect support for IPv6 and exclude IPv6 tests if appropriate. If your main interface has IPv6 addresses, then your loopback interface must also have '::1' enabled. For some default installations on Ubuntu that does not seem to be the case. To enable '::1' on the loopback interface on Ubuntu: ```bash sudo sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6=0 ``` #### Running Coverage It's good practice to ensure any code you add or change is covered by tests. You can do so by running the test suite with coverage enabled: ```console $ ./configure --coverage $ make coverage ``` A detailed coverage report will be written to `coverage/index.html` for JavaScript coverage and to `coverage/cxxcoverage.html` for C++ coverage (if you only want to run the JavaScript tests then you do not need to run the first command `./configure --coverage`). _Generating a test coverage report can take several minutes._ To collect coverage for a subset of tests you can set the `CI_JS_SUITES` and `CI_NATIVE_SUITES` variables (to run specific suites, e.g., `child-process`, in isolation, unset the opposing `_SUITES` variable): ```text $ CI_JS_SUITES=child-process CI_NATIVE_SUITES= make coverage ``` The above command executes tests for the `child-process` subsystem and outputs the resulting coverage report. Alternatively, you can run `make coverage-run-js`, to execute JavaScript tests independently of the C++ test suite: ```text $ CI_JS_SUITES=fs CI_NATIVE_SUITES= make coverage-run-js ``` The `make coverage` command downloads some tools to the project root directory. To clean up after generating the coverage reports: ```console $ make coverage-clean ``` #### Building the documentation To build the documentation: This will build Node.js first (if necessary) and then use it to build the docs: ```console $ make doc ``` If you have an existing Node.js build, you can build just the docs with: ```console $ NODE=/path/to/node make doc-only ``` To read the documentation: ```console $ man doc/node.1 ``` If you prefer to read the documentation in a browser, run the following after `make doc` is finished: ```console $ make docopen ``` This will open a browser with the documentation. To test if Node.js was built correctly: ```console $ ./node -e "console.log('Hello from Node.js ' + process.version)" ``` To install this version of Node.js into a system directory: ```console $ [sudo] make install ``` #### Building a debug build If you run into an issue where the information provided by the JS stack trace is not enough, or if you suspect the error happens outside of the JS VM, you can try to build a debug enabled binary: ```console $ ./configure --debug $ make -j4 ``` `make` with `./configure --debug` generates two binaries, the regular release one in `out/Release/node` and a debug binary in `out/Debug/node`, only the release version is actually installed when you run `make install`. To use the debug build with all the normal dependencies overwrite the release version in the install directory: ``` console $ make install --prefix=/opt/node-debug/ $ cp -a -f out/Debug/node /opt/node-debug/node ``` When using the debug binary, core dumps will be generated in case of crashes. These core dumps are useful for debugging when provided with the corresponding original debug binary and system information. Reading the core dump requires `gdb` built on the same platform the core dump was captured on (i.e. 64-bit `gdb` for `node` built on a 64-bit system, Linux `gdb` for `node` built on Linux) otherwise you will get errors like `not in executable format: File format not recognized`. Example of generating a backtrace from the core dump: ``` console $ gdb /opt/node-debug/node core.node.8.1535359906 $ backtrace ``` ### Windows Prerequisites: * [Python 2.7](https://www.python.org/downloads/) * The "Desktop development with C++" workload from [Visual Studio 2017](https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/) or the "Visual C++ build tools" workload from the [Build Tools](https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/#build-tools-for-visual-studio-2017), with the default optional components. * Basic Unix tools required for some tests, [Git for Windows](http://git-scm.com/download/win) includes Git Bash and tools which can be included in the global `PATH`. * The [NetWide Assembler](http://www.nasm.us/), for OpenSSL assembler modules. If not installed in the default location, it needs to be manually added to `PATH`. A build with the `openssl-no-asm` option does not need this. * **Optional** (to build the MSI): the [WiX Toolset v3.11](http://wixtoolset.org/releases/) and the [Wix Toolset Visual Studio 2017 Extension](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=RobMensching.WixToolsetVisualStudio2017Extension). If the path to your build directory contains a space or a non-ASCII character, the build will likely fail. ```console > .\vcbuild ``` To run the tests: ```console > .\vcbuild test ``` To test if Node.js was built correctly: ```console > Release\node -e "console.log('Hello from Node.js', process.version)" ``` ### Android/Android-based devices (e.g. Firefox OS) Android is not a supported platform. Patches to improve the Android build are welcome. There is no testing on Android in the current continuous integration environment. The participation of people dedicated and determined to improve Android building, testing, and support is encouraged. Be sure you have downloaded and extracted [Android NDK](https://developer.android.com/tools/sdk/ndk/index.html) before in a folder. Then run: ```console $ ./android-configure /path/to/your/android-ndk $ make ``` ### `Intl` (ECMA-402) support: [Intl](https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/doc/api/intl.md) support is enabled by default, with English data only. #### Default: `small-icu` (English only) support By default, only English data is included, but the full `Intl` (ECMA-402) APIs. It does not need to download any dependencies to function. You can add full data at runtime. #### Build with full ICU support (all locales supported by ICU): With the `--download=all`, this may download ICU if you don't have an ICU in `deps/icu`. (The embedded `small-icu` included in the default Node.js source does not include all locales.) ##### Unix/macOS: ```console $ ./configure --with-intl=full-icu --download=all ``` ##### Windows: ```console > .\vcbuild full-icu download-all ``` #### Building without Intl support The `Intl` object will not be available, nor some other APIs such as `String.normalize`. ##### Unix/macOS: ```console $ ./configure --without-intl ``` ##### Windows: ```console > .\vcbuild without-intl ``` #### Use existing installed ICU (Unix/macOS only): ```console $ pkg-config --modversion icu-i18n && ./configure --with-intl=system-icu ``` If you are cross-compiling, your `pkg-config` must be able to supply a path that works for both your host and target environments. #### Build with a specific ICU: You can find other ICU releases at [the ICU homepage](http://icu-project.org/download). Download the file named something like `icu4c-**##.#**-src.tgz` (or `.zip`). To check the minimum recommended ICU, run `./configure --help` and see the help for the `--with-icu-source` option. A warning will be printed during configuration if the ICU version is too old. ##### Unix/macOS From an already-unpacked ICU: ```console $ ./configure --with-intl=[small-icu,full-icu] --with-icu-source=/path/to/icu ``` From a local ICU tarball: ```console $ ./configure --with-intl=[small-icu,full-icu] --with-icu-source=/path/to/icu.tgz ``` From a tarball URL: ```console $ ./configure --with-intl=full-icu --with-icu-source=http://url/to/icu.tgz ``` ##### Windows First unpack latest ICU to `deps/icu` [icu4c-**##.#**-src.tgz](http://icu-project.org/download) (or `.zip`) as `deps/icu` (You'll have: `deps/icu/source/...`) ```console > .\vcbuild full-icu ``` ## Building Node.js with FIPS-compliant OpenSSL This version of Node.js does not support FIPS. ## Building Node.js with external core modules It is possible to specify one or more JavaScript text files to be bundled in the binary as built-in modules when building Node.js. ### Unix/macOS This command will make `/root/myModule.js` available via `require('/root/myModule')` and `./myModule2.js` available via `require('myModule2')`. ```console $ ./configure --link-module '/root/myModule.js' --link-module './myModule2.js' ``` ### Windows To make `./myModule.js` available via `require('myModule')` and `./myModule2.js` available via `require('myModule2')`: ```console > .\vcbuild link-module './myModule.js' link-module './myModule2.js' ``` ## Note for downstream distributors of Node.js The Node.js ecosystem is reliant on ABI compatibility within a major release. To maintain ABI compatibility it is required that production builds of Node.js will be built against the same version of dependencies as the project vendors. If Node.js is to be built against a different version of a dependency please create a custom `NODE_MODULE_VERSION` to ensure ecosystem compatibility. Please consult with the TSC by opening an issue at https://github.com/nodejs/tsc/issues if you decide to create a custom `NODE_MODULE_VERSION` so we can avoid duplication in the ecosystem.