2.1 KiB
Node.js packages
The pkgs/development/node-packages folder contains a generated collection of
NPM packages that can be installed with the Nix package
manager.
As a rule of thumb, the package set should only provide end user software packages, such as command-line utilities. Libraries should only be added to the package set if there is a non-NPM package that requires it.
When it is desired to use NPM libraries in a development project, use the
node2nix generator directly on the package.json configuration file of the
project.
The package set also provides support for multiple Node.js versions. The policy is that a new package should be added to the collection for the latest stable LTS release (which is currently 8.x), unless there is an explicit reason to support a different release.
If your package uses native addons, you need to examine what kind of native build system it uses. Here are some examples:
node-gypnode-gyp-buildernode-pre-gyp
After you have identified the correct system, you need to override your package
expression while adding in build system as a build input. For example, dat
requires node-gyp-build, so we override its expression in default-v8.nix:
dat = nodePackages.dat.override (oldAttrs: {
buildInputs = oldAttrs.buildInputs ++ [ nodePackages.node-gyp-build ];
});
To add a package from NPM to nixpkgs:
- Modify
pkgs/development/node-packages/node-packages-v8.jsonto add, update or remove package entries. (Orpkgs/development/node-packages/node-packages-v10.jsonfor packages depending on Node.js 10.x) - Run the script:
(cd pkgs/development/node-packages && ./generate.sh). - Build your new package to test your changes:
cd /path/to/nixpkgs && nix-build -A nodePackages.<new-or-updated-package>. To build against a specific Node.js version (e.g. 10.x):nix-build -A nodePackages_10_x.<new-or-updated-package> - Add and commit all modified and generated files.
For more information about the generation process, consult the
README.md file of the node2nix
tool.