[Buildroot] [v3 3/4] package/nodejs: Add npm_config_target_arch to npm command

[Martin Bark]

Yann,

On 30 June 2015 at 19:01, Yann E. MORIN <yann.morin.1998 at free.fr> wrote:
> Martin, All,
>
> On 2015-06-30 11:42 +0100, Martin Bark spake thusly:
>> Many packages use node-pre-gpy as a way of deploying precompiled binary
>
> node-pre-gpy or node-pre-gyp ? ;-)
>
>> dependencies with fall back to compilation for other targets.  node-gyp
>> uses the option --arch to determine its target architecture (which is
>> already set correctly), however, node-pre-gyp uses --target-arch.  Without
>> this set node.js packages that uses node-pre-gyp will pick the wrong target
>> architecture.
>
> So if I understand correctly, we can fall in a case where the package
> claims to already have a pre-compiled binary for this target-arch, and
> install that instead of building it from source, right?
>
> I don't think this is good, for three reasons;
>
>   1) there's no way we can ensure it matches the bundled sources;
>      think malware sneaking into there... :-(
>
>   2) it makes complying with the licenses almost impossible (e.g a
>      module is GPLv2, we install the pre-built binary, we're not sure
>      the sources we have are the actual sources used to build the binary
>      we ship)
>
>   3) the architecture is not enough: what about optimisation (speed,
>      size...), the ABI (hardfloat vs. softfloat...) and a lot of other
>      compilation-related specifities?...

I agree, I'm no fan of node-pre-gyp but unfortunately quite a few
packages use it.

Just to be clear, this patch is a bug fix, if does not enable
node-pre-gyp.  node-pre-gyp is a node module like any other and some
people have chosen to use it as a dependency in they node module.
Without this fix packages like serialport that use node-pre-gyp will
not build and/or run correctly.

>
> Can we disable this check, and *always* and *unconditionnally* build
> from source, even if the module believes it has a pre-compiled binary
> for the current target architecture?

I think this is a good idea.  Looking at node-pre-gyp i can see it has
the option --build-from-source to force building the C++ code.  I ran
a quick test and passing npm_config_build_from_source=true into npm
seems to work, the C++ code is built even if the binary version is
available.

I'll run some more tests and submit an updated patch

Thanks

Martin

>
> Otherwise, I won't review nor ack this patch, I'm not too versed in
> NodeJS to fully appreciate the problem and the proposed solution...
> Sorry...
>
> Regards,
> Yann E. MORIN.
>
>> This patch sets npm_config_target_arch to solve this issue.  I have tested
>> this using the node.js package serialport.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Martin Bark <martin at barkynet.com>
>>
>> ---
>> Changes v2 -> v3
>>  - Adjusted patch order so this is before the new definition of $(NPM)
>>
>> Changes v1 -> v2
>>  - No changes, new in v2
>> ---
>>  package/nodejs/nodejs.mk | 1 +
>>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
>>
>> diff --git a/package/nodejs/nodejs.mk b/package/nodejs/nodejs.mk
>> index 0b3f8a5..78db49d 100644
>> --- a/package/nodejs/nodejs.mk
>> +++ b/package/nodejs/nodejs.mk
>> @@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ define NODEJS_INSTALL_MODULES
>>               $(TARGET_CONFIGURE_OPTS) \
>>               LD="$(TARGET_CXX)" \
>>               npm_config_arch=$(NODEJS_CPU) \
>> +             npm_config_target_arch=$(NODEJS_CPU) \
>>               npm_config_nodedir=$(BUILD_DIR)/nodejs-$(NODEJS_VERSION) \
>>               $(HOST_DIR)/usr/bin/npm install \
>>               $(NODEJS_MODULES_LIST) \
>> --
>> 2.1.4
>>
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>
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