ionizer

Build electron compatible modules while working in any version of nodejs.


about

your system's version of nodejs most likely does _not_ match the version
that electron runs behind the scenes. this can be problematic. dependencies commonly execute build process
whilst installing them. perhaps you have seen node-gyp build addons when installing something via npm?
For example, suppose

- you are developing on nodejs 0.12.7
- your electron application under the hood runs iojs 2.5.0
- you install npm install --save node-sass
- you require('node-sass') into you electron application and run it...
- YOUR APP CRASHES! :( node-sass was built for 0.12.7 (module version 14), not for 2.5.0 (module version 44)
- you run ionizer -q, which rebuilds your dependencies to work with your electron version.
- reload your app. all is zen!

installation

This package is hosted on npm. See the ionizer package page.

``sh
npm install --save-dev ionizer
`

basic usage


i recommend installing electron-prebuilt into your package for no-brainer rebuilds.
ionizer first tests for electron-prebuilt in your project and will rebuild with that if present (and if you don't explicitly specify an electron-path). npm install --save electron-prebuilt.

whenever you install a new npm package into your electron project, rerun ionizer:

`json2
// package.json
{
...
scripts: {
"postinstall": "ionizer -q", // or ...
"postinstall": "ionizer -q --limit=leveldown,some-pkg",
}
}
`

if you want to fine tune your rebuilds, try a rebuild script!

`json
// inside your package.json
...
"scripts": {
"postinstall": "node .ionizer.js"
}
...
`

`js
// .ionizer.js
// advanced rebuilding (see simpler package.json example above)
var fs = require('fs');
var path = require('path');
var pkg = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('./package.json', 'utf8'));
var _ = require('lodash');
var electronVersion = _.get(pkg, 'dependencies.electron-prebuilt') || _.get(pkg, 'electron-version');
electronVersion = electronVersion.match(/\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/)[0];
var ionizer = require('ionizer');
ionizer.setLogLevel('verbose');

// test if rebuilding necessary
ionizer.shouldRebuild('/Users/username/ ... /Electron'); // electron path, see node_modules/electron-prebuilt/path.txt
.then(function(rslt) {
if (!rslt.shouldRebuild) { process.exit(0); }
return ionizer.installNodeHeaders(electronVersion)
.then(function initRebuild() {
return ionizer.rebuild({
electronVersion: electronVersion,
modulesDir: './node_modules',
quick: true,
ignore: ['webpack', 'babel', 'react', 'redux', 'pouchy']
});
});
})
.catch(function(err) {
console.error(err.message);
});

`

options

as demonstrated above, this package supports two modes:

1. cli mode
1. package mode

the API when consumed as a package does not have a full doc set yet--please see the example above. the options to ionizer are the same to the cli as they are to ionizer.rebuild in the library. those may be found here.

note

$3

ionizer works, but it's in beta. despite the API not being published formally now,
it _will_ change in 2.0.0. expect at least new method names. the CLI options are not anticipated to change @2.0.0.

$3

ionizer was initially a fork off of electron-rebuild, so make sure to give those guys a shout out. this package was created to improve performance, development experience, and add some features. some dependencies _will build with ionizer_ that _won't build with electron-rebuild_, although windows support is still lacking in ionizer (help requested for add windows support to squish-squash). notable differences between the packages are:

1. more reliable rebuilds. ionizer runs the _actual_ electron node process when rebuilding packages
1. faster rebuilds. rather than rebuilding your entire _node_modules_ folder, you can limit the builds to certain packages. and keep a record/cache of those packages that have already been rebuilt (so as to not redundantly rebuild them)
1. pure es5. no es6 compilation required for backwards compatibility
1. improves testing, building, & distribution speed
1. faster tests. network tests are mocked out. once basic resources are cached.

todo

- [ ] windows support (squish-squash)
- [ ] add doc blocks and gen API docs
- [ ] fix test ECONN issue for connecting to local file server
- [ ] support building against global electron (vs. electron-prebuilt or loose binary)
- [ ] general API tidy!

changelog

1.x - release
2.0.0 - drop --verbose in favor of --log-level=[winston-log-levels]`

cdaringe.com