NEXE Natives

NEXE automatically bundles resources that often include node modules with natives (i.e. native.node). However, this will cause problems with the compiled binary due to the way the NEXE Virtual FS works. This is demonstrated when the internal NEXE bundled node module attempts to use require() to import a native.node file. In this case an error will be thrown as it will not be found. This is due to require() not looking within the NEXE Virtual FS to resolve the path.

This library allows native modules in the bundled node application to function as expected.

The way this is accomplished is by moving (at run time) the specific node module outside of any paths referenced as 'resources' in the NEXE build options. When the NEXE binary first executes, it copies the module with natives from within the binary to a path on the local file system that is not part of the NEXE Virtual FS and then "requires" it from the copied location.

This library attempts to accomplish this with minimal impact to the original source code. Once implemented, the node application will continue to work both as a NEXE binary and when natively.

This setup does NOT require parallel code bases or any automation to include or modify source files when building the NEXE binary.

Install

npm install --save nexe-natives

Implementation Example

Original NON working implementation of node-pty:

const pty = require('node-pty');

Modifications to original to allow NEXE binary to use the node-pty library:

const pty = require('nexe-natives')(require.resolve('node-pty'));

Reference

# NexeNatives(modulePath, opts)

• modulePath: [String] Absolute path to module directory or to a file within module directory
• opts: [Object]
  • localPath: [String] Directory path to where modules should be stored in local file system (defaults to $HOME/.nexe_natives)
  • removeOnExit: [Boolean] Remove copied module path from local file system when process terminates (defaults to true)

Example 1:

const pty = require('nexe-natives')(require.resolve('node-pty'));

Example 2:

const os = require('os');
const path = require('path');

const pty = require('nexe-natives')(path.join(__dirname, '..', 'node_modules', 'node-pty'), {
  localPath: os.tempdir(),
  removeOnExit: true,
});

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2020

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.