How to build nodejs as a shared library from source code - c++

Question

I need to include node.h in my c++ project, I tried to build node from source code using:
./configure
sudo make
I got a node executable and some object files and .a files, I need to build as .so file to use it in my c++ code.
I tried to build libnode, but I got cmakelists error and this is not official nodejs project.
if anybody know how to build nodejs from source code as .so file will be great, a similar question in a google group but the answer is not working.

Answer 1

Support for building as a shared library has been added in to node mainline. Please see PR 6994 and specifically this comment.
I just ran
git clone https://github.com/nodejs/node.git
cd node
git checkout v6.9.4
./configure --shared
make -j4
which produced:
ubuntu#server:~/node$ find . -name libnode.so\* -exec ls -la {} \;
-rwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 31576776 Jan 6 18:57 ./out/Release/lib.target/libnode.so.48
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 387 Jan 6 18:57 ./out/Release/.deps/home/ubuntu/node/out/Release/lib.target/libnode.so.48.d
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 4202 Jan 6 18:57 ./out/Release/.deps/home/ubuntu/node/out/Release/obj.target/libnode.so.48.d
-rwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 31576776 Jan 6 18:57 ./out/Release/obj.target/libnode.so.48
ubuntu#server:~/node$

Answer 2

I think it is easier to build in a static library as shared requires the addition of '-fpic'.
For my projects (under Linux) I use this script to built a static node.js library:
#!/bin/sh
# This script is LGPL feel free to use it!
if test ! "$#" = "1"; then
echo "Run with the archive in parameter:"
echo "\t${0} ./node-v0.XX.XX.tar.gz"
echo "\nIt will build a ./libnode_static.a in current dir"
return
fi
HERE=$PWD
#Extract Tarball
tar xf $1 | exit 1
DIRNAME=`echo $1 | sed s/.tar.gz//g`
cd $DIRNAME
#Patch node.gyp to build in static
sed -i "s/'type': 'executable',/'type': 'static_library',/g" ./node.gyp
#Patch node_main.cc to rename the main in node_main
sed -i "s/int main(/int node_main(/g" ./src/node_main.cc
#Build Node.js
./configure
make -j8
#Move to build directory
cd ./out/Release
#Extract .a
#Cleanup if previous build
rm -fr *.tmpd
echo "== Extracting *.a =="
#Make sure we create a directory
#for each.a as some .o might
#have the same name
for a in `ls *.a`
do
echo "\t${a}..."
mkdir "$a.tmpd"
cd "$a.tmpd"
ar x ../$a
cd ..
done
#Repack in a single .a
find . -iname "*.o" | xargs ar rcs libnode_static.a
#Cleanup
rm -fr *.tmpd
echo "== DONE =="
#Move in start directory
mv ./libnode_static.a ${HERE}/
cd ${HERE}
#Sanity CHECK
echo "== Performing Sanity Check =="
TMP_FILE=`mktemp /tmp/XXXXXX.cxx`
TMP_EXE=`mktemp /tmp/XXXXXX`
cat << . > ${TMP_FILE}
int node_main( int argc, char **argv);
int main(int argc, char ** argv )
{
node_main( argc, argv );
return 0;
}
.
#Try compiling
g++ ${TMP_FILE} -o ${TMP_EXE} -lnode_static -ldl -pthread -L.
#Try running
RET=`${TMP_EXE} -e "console.log('okfromnode')"`
if test "x${RET}" = "xokfromnode"; then
echo "== Sanity check OK =="
else
echo "== Sanity check FAILED =="
exit 1
fi
rm ${TMP_FILE} ${TMP_EXE}
echo "== Node.js is now built statically in ./libnode_static.a =="
exit 0
Run it as follows :
sh script.sh node-v0.10.XX.tar.gz
If everything goes well you should get a libnode_static.a in current directory.
Use it with a code like this:
int node_main( int argc, char **argv);
int main(int argc, char ** argv )
{
/* Here we spawn a node.js instance */
return node_main( argc, argv );
}
And compile like this:
g++ ./test.cxx -o ./my_node -lnode_static -ldl -pthread -L.
And you have embedded node :
./my_node -e "console.log('Hello World')"
#Outputs
Hello World
Hope this helps.

Answer 3

This is how i did it in windows. Except for the build procedures, everything should be same.
Nodejs uses node-gyp for building. You can read this for building and installation. Or just git clone the repository.
Open node.gyp in the node-vX.XX.XX and find
'targets': [
{
'target_name': 'node',
'type': 'executable',
change the executable to shared_library.
Run vcbuild.bat in windows or for other platforms follow instructions.

Answer 4

Update:
https://gist.github.com/aklen/849f3460b7a028c9aed8a84e1d4cecb7
Windows
.\vcbuild release vs2017 dll x64
.\vcbuild release vs2017 dll x86
.\vcbuild debug vs2017 dll x64
.\vcbuild debug vs2017 dll x86
Linux / MacOS
./configure --shared --release
make -j4
./configure --shared --debug
make -j4
Other build options
https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/BUILDING.md