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Nexe

Nexe is a command-line utility that compiles your Node.js application into a single executable file.

screen shot 2014-02-28 at 10 32 54 am

Motivation

  • Ability to run multiple applications with different node.js runtimes.
  • Distributable binaries without needing node / npm.
  • Starts faster.
  • Lockdown specific application versions, and easily rollback.
  • Faster deployments.

Requirements

  • Linux / Mac / BSD / Windows
  • Windows: Python 2.6 or 2.7 (in PATH), Visual Studio 2010 or 2012

##Caveats

Doesn't support native modules

  • Use the techniques below for working around dynamic require statments to exclude the module from the bundling, and deploy along side the executable in a node_module folder so your app can find it. Note: On windows you may need to have your app be named node.exe if .node file depends on node.

###Doesn't support dynamic require statments Such As:

var x = require(someVar);

In this case nexe won't bundle the file

	var x;
	if (someCheck) {
		x = require("./ver1.js");
	}
	else {
		x = require("./var2.js");
	}

In this case nexe will bundle both files.

Workarounds:

  1. for dyanmic requires that you want bundled add the following into your project
	var dummyToForceIncludeForBundle = false;
	if (dummyToForceIncludeForBundle) {
		require("./loadedDynamicallyLater.js");
		...
	}

this will trick the bundler into including them.

  1. for dynamic files getting included that you don't want to be
	var moduleName = "./ver2.js";
	if (someCheck) {
		moduleName = "./ver1.js";
	}
	var x = require(moduleName)

Note: neither file will be bundled.

Using these two techniques you can change your application code so mdoules are not bundles, and generate a includes.js file as part of your build process so that the right files get bundled for your build configuration.

__dirname

Once the module is budnled it is part of the executable. __dirname is therefore the executable dir (process.execPath). Thus if you put resources on a realtive path from the the executable your app will be able to access them.

If you had a data file at /dev/myNodeApp/stateManager/handler/data/some.csv and a file at /dev/myNodeApp/stateManager/handler/loader.js

	module.exports = fw.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, "./data/some.csv"));

you would need to deploy some.csv in a sub dir data/ along side your executable

There are potential use cases for __dirname where the executable path is not the correct substitution, and could result in a silent error (possibly even in a dependciey that you are unaware of).

Note: __filename will be 'undefined'

child_process.fork

child_process.spawn works is unmodified, but child_process.fork will make an attempt to lunch a new instance of your executable and run the bundled module.

Installation

Via NPM:

	npm install nexe [-g]

Or git:

	git clone

CLI Usage

	
Usage: nexe -i [sources] -o [binary]

Options:
  -i, --input    The entry javascript files         [default: cwd]
  -o, --output   The output binary                  [default: cwd/release/app.nex]
  -r, --runtime  The node.js runtime to use         [default: "0.8.15"]
  -t, --temp     The path to store node.js sources  [default: /tmp/nexe]
  -f, --flags    Don't parse node and v8 flags, pass through app flags  [default: false]

Code Usage

var nexe = require('nexe');

nexe.compile({
	input: 'input.js',
	output: 'path/to/bin',
	nodeVersion: '0.8.15',
	nodeTempDir: __dirname,
	flags: true
}, function(err) {
	
});