This NodeJS library allows to easily install and control OS background services on Windows, MacOS and Linux using shell commands. Uses sudo-prompt to request on desktop and "sudo" only on headless servers.

Goal

The goal of this repository is to simplify the creation and management of OS services using NodeJS.

Features

• One configuration for all OS services: Windows, MacOS, Linux
• Supported functions: installation/uninstallation, start, stop, status
• Supported scopes: "system" (user asked for admin privileges) or "user"
• Option "headless" for headless servers (Linux, MacOS only)
• TS typings
• Async functions

Disclaimer

This project is in an early development stage. There may be bugs or missing features. Currently this package doesn't parse existing service config files (e.g. on Linux).

Requirements

• Windows: If you plan to use this library for windows, make sure that winsw is installed on the user's machine. You can add a winsw.exe binary to your application and define the path to that file in the options.
• MacOS: Make sure, that the plist package is installed: npm install plist

Installation

Make sure that sudo-prompt is installed:

   npm install sudo-prompt

   npm install @julianpoemp/node-service

On macOS targets "plist" is needed:

   npm install plist

Example

import {initializeOSService} from 'node-service';
import {join, resolve} from 'path';

async function wait(seconds: number) {
  return new Promise((resolve) => {
    setTimeout(() => {
      resolve();
    }, 1000 * seconds)
  });
}

async function main() {
  const manager = await initializeOSService({
    name: 'Hello World Service Example',
    level: 'system',
    slug: 'hello-world',
    windows: {
      pathToWinswConfig: resolve(join("data", "winsw.xml"))
    }
  });

  console.log("UNINSTALL!");
  await manager.uninstall();

  if (manager.status === 'not_installed') {
    console.log('Install...');
    const args: string[] = [
      "node"
    ];

    await manager.install(resolve(join("demo", "src", "assets", "hello-world.js")), args, {
      description: "This service just prints 'Hello world' every second.",
      logging: {
        enabled: true
      },
      linux: {
        Unit: {
          After: "network.target",
          StartLimitIntervalSync: 0
        },
        Service: {
          Type: "simple",
          Restart: "always",
          RestartSec: 5
        },
        Install: {
          WantedBy: "multi-user.target"
        }
      }
    });
    console.log('installed!');
    await manager.start();
  }

  while (true) {
    console.log(`STATUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    console.log(`STATUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    console.log(`STAsTUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    console.log(`STATUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    console.log(`STATUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    await manager.stop();
    console.log(`STATUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    console.log(`STATUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    console.log(`STATUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    console.log(`STATUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    console.log(`STATUS: ${manager.status}`);
    await manager.updateStatus();
    await wait(1);
    await manager.start();
  }
}

main().catch((e)=>{
  console.log(e?.message ?? e);
})