CMake.js (MIT)

About

CMake.js is a Node.js/io.js native addon build tool which works exactly like node-gyp, but instead of gyp, it is based on CMake build system. It's compatible with the following runtimes:

• Node.js 0.10+
• io.js
• NW.js: all CMake.js based native modules are compatible with NW.js out-of-the-box, there is no nw-gyp like magic required
• Electron (formerly known as atom-shell): out-of-the-box build support, no post build steps required

Supported native libraries

• Boost: it's supported by a separate module called boost-lib, that manages Boost dependencies, downloads and installs appropriate Boost versions from Github, and compiles its required libraries automatically. See the readme and the tutorial.

Why CMake?

Nearly every native addon is using node-gyp today, so what's wrong with it?

1. First of all, Google, the creator of the gyp platform is moving towards its new build system called gn, which means gyp's days of support are counted. (Just for the record, despite the announced gn switch, there is Bazel in the works, so sooner or later gn will be dropped in favor of it - IMHO.)

2. It uses Python 2 which is a huge PITA in the current century, and because of the above, there is no hope for upgrade, see: node-gyp Issue #193.

3. While gyp is very good in dependency management and project generation, it still lacks features of essential build customization
   (see: gyp wiki - Custom_build_steps).

4. Its wiki might be enough for an inhouse project, but far from what can be called for a good product documentation.

5. If you wanna port a native library to node as an addon, there is a (very-very) good chance that it doesn't use gyp for its build system, you have to make gyp binding by hand, which is really hard or nearly impossible considering the previous bulletpoint. Also you have to be an expert of the given build system and gyp to do it right.

6. There is no IDE that supports gyp as a native project format. Gyp can be used to generate IDE projects, but this is not a two way operation, if you tune your settings or setup in the IDE, you have to propagate changes back to gyp files by hand.

7. Gyp itself isn't capable to build node modules, there is fair amount custom JS code in node-gyp module to make it capable to doing so (that's why it named as Generate Your Project not Build Your Project). So supporting advanced build features like Ninja generators is impossible without extra development effort added to node-gyp (see node-gyp PR #429). It looks like node-gyp support itself eats up development resources, so there won't be new features like this added or merged in the near future. So with node-gyp you are stuck to good old Make which makes build times very long while working on large modules.

So, let's take a look at CMake compared to the above bullet points.

1. Cmake is quite mature and very widely used, making it quite stable and convenient. It's used by projects like Blender, LLVM, MySQL or Netflix, and it isn't likely to be abandoned in the near future.

2. It's native software, having no dependencies to any runtime.

3. Right now CMake has all of the features that were missing when development of gyp started, and on top of that it still has those features that gyp didn't have since then. It has an own module ecosystem with internal modules, and with 3rd party gems like Compile Time Reducer (Cotire).

4. CMake has excellent documentation, lots of tutorials, and examples.

5. If you pick a native cross platform library, there is a very good chance that is uses CMake as of its build system, or it has CMake build files somewhere, for example: Shark, Lua, SDL. If not, there are converters that helps you to create CMake files from other project formats.

6. CMake is widely supported by major cross platform C++ IDEs like: QtCreator, KDevelop and the upcoming CLion from JetBrains. With CMake.js you are gonna be able to develop Node.js addons by using those, even you have the ability to use features like integrated debugging.

7. CMake.js module doesn't build your project, CMake does. All of its commands (configure, build, clean, etc.) are simple CMake invocations without involving JS magic anywhere. Even you can print CMake command line with CMake.js module for each command (eg.: cmake-js print-configure, cmake-js print-build, cmake-js print-clean). This means supporting new features of a given native build system (like new version of Ninja or Visual Studio) won't involve developer efforts from CMake.js side, installing new versions of CMake will be enough.

Installation

npm install -g cmake-js

Help:

cmake-js --help

Requirements:

• CMake
• A proper C/C++ compiler toolchain of the given platform
  • Windows: a recent version of Visual C++ will do (the free Community version works well)
  • Unix/Posix:
    • Clang or GCC (Clang will be picked if both present)
    • Ninja or Make (Ninja will be picked if both present)

Usage

General

In a nutshell. (For more complete documentation please see the first tutorial.)

• Install cmake-js for your module npm install --save cmake-js
• Put a CMakeLists.txt file into you module root with this minimal required content:

project (your-addon-name-here)
include_directories(${CMAKE_JS_INC})
file(GLOB SOURCE_FILES "your-source files-location-here")
add_library(${PROJECT_NAME} SHARED ${SOURCE_FILES})
set_target_properties(${PROJECT_NAME} PROPERTIES PREFIX "" SUFFIX ".node")
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} ${CMAKE_JS_LIB})

• Add the following into your package.json scripts section:

"scripts": {
    "install": "cmake-js rebuild"
  }

Commandline

In your module folder you can access cmake-js commands if you install cmake-js globally:

npm install -g cmake-js

Please refer to the --help for the lists of available commands (they are like commands in node-gyp).

Runtimes

You can configure runtimes for compiling target for all depending CMake.js modules in an application. Define a cmake-js key in the application's root package.json file, eg.:

{
  "name": "ta-taram-taram",
  "description": "pa-param-pam-pam",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "main": "app.js",
  "cmake-js": {
    "runtime": "node",
    "runtimeVersion": "0.12.0",
    "arch": "ia32"
  }
}

Available settings:

• runtime: application's target runtime, possible values are:
  • node: Node.js
  • iojs: io.js
  • nw: nw.js
• runtimeVersion: version of the application's target runtime, for example: 0.12.1
• arch: architecutre of application's target runtime (eg: x64, ia32, arm). Notice: on non-Windows systems the C++ toolset's architecture's gonna be used despite of this setting. If you don't specify this on Windows, then architecture of the main node/io.js runtime is gonna be used, so you have to choose a matching nw.js runtime.

NW.js

To make compatible your NW.js application with any CMake.js based modules, write the following to your application's package.json file:

{
  "cmake-js": {
    "runtime": "nw",
    "runtimeVersion": "nw.js-version-here",
    "arch": "whatever-setting-is-appropriate-for-your-application's-windows-build"
  }
}

That's it. There is nothing else to do either on the application's or on the module's side, CMake.js modules are compatible with NW.js out-of-the-box. For more complete documentation please see the third tutorial.

Electron

To make compatible your Electron application with any CMake.js based modules, write the following to your application's package.json file:

{
  "cmake-js": {
    "runtime": "electron",
    "runtimeVersion": "electron-runtime-version-here",
    "arch": "whatever-setting-is-appropriate-for-your-application's-windows-build"
  }
}

That's it. There is nothing else to do either on the application's or on the module's side, CMake.js modules are compatible with Electron out-of-the-box.

Important

It is important to understand that this setting is to be configured in the application's root package.json file. If you're creating a native module targeting nw.js for example, then do not specify anything in your module's package.json. It's the actual application's decision to specify its runtime, your module's just compatible anything that was mentioned in the About chapter. Actually defining cmake-js key in your module's package.json file may lead to an error. Why? If you set it up to use nw.js 0.12.1 for example, then when it gets compiled during development time (to run its unit tests for example) it's gonna be compiled against io.js 1.2 runtime. But if you're having io.js 34.0.1 at the commandline then, which is binary incompatible with 1.2, then your unit tests will fail for sure. So it is advised to not use cmake-js target settings in your module's package.json, because that way CMake.js will use that you have, and your tests will pass.

Tutorials

• TUTORIAL 01 Creating a native module by using CMake.js and NAN
• TUTORIAL 02 Creating CMake.js based native addons with Qt Creator
• TUTORIAL 03 Using CMake.js based native modules with NW.js
• TUTORIAL 04 Creating CMake.js based native modules with Boost dependency

Credits

• Ivshti (Ivo Georgiev) - Electron support