6 ms·

First "official" NodeJS build on Windows

61 points by spotirca 15y ago

mirrorskin 15y ago
Did anyone manage to get npm up and running on Windows yet?
- davej 15y ago
  No, there are still a number of issues with NPM support on windows. Isaacs talks about them on the latest NodeUp podcast: http://nodeup.com/ http://nodeup.com/
  - xtian 15y ago
    Check out ryppi for bare-bones package installation, though: https://github.com/japj/ryppi https://github.com/japj/ryppi
insraq 15y ago
Still lots of bugs and many features are not supported. But it is good to know they are working actively on this.
binarymax 15y ago
I absolutely love the fact that its just a single exe and not some bloated install. I wish more win software was built like this.
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  Why? If you use someone else's library there's going to be a dll associated. Node doesn't have any dependencies.
  - deskamess 15y ago
    Does a javascript engine like V8 have to be installed separately to avoid dependency issues? Microsoft has the Chakra engine but as far as I know it was running inside IE only.
    - hvs 15y ago
      It's compiled into Node.
    - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
      V8 is open source, so it's compiled into Node. But I don't even compile open-source libraries into my windows assemblies. That seems like an incredible waste of time for little benefit.
      - sjs 15y ago
        The distribution & install story is better w/ a single statically linked exe (imo of course). Not to mention installing node for development and on servers. When everything is in one place it's just so easy. I think the benefit is huge and don't see how it's a waste of time. Node is linked to specific V8 versions, it makes sense to include it.
        mathgladiator 15y ago
        Case in point: putty.exe
- xiaoqmangg 15y ago
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christkv 15y ago
Yeah there will be plenty off issues using npm. The native npm packages will most likely break. Npm has support for binary builds but I'm not sure most packages will have a completely separate build process set up for windows. In the case of the mongodb package I'm deprecating the c++ bson parser as the js parser is as fast or faster than the c++ bson parser (v8 crankshaft and fast arrays rock) and this "should" make it work out of the box on the windows node.js build (crossing fingers)
rbanffy 15y ago
Unless you are deploying on Windows, why not run it under cygwin? You may end up with a lot of silly problems with file paths, case insensitivity and any other "impedance mismatch" between your development environment and whatever server the workload will run on. I did a lot of Django development on Windows and Cygwin saved me a whole lot of pain.
- tildedave 15y ago
  In my opinion, if you are developing for a Linux deployment on Windows it's easier to use VirtualBox to host a Linux OS. (That goes out the window if you are talking about performance testing of course.)
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    My first corporate issued laptop wasn't beefy enough to run Linux under a VM. Besides, it's convenient to have everything under one file space (moving things to and from the VM tends to be a pain - and if you get your email on Windows, important files will be, more often than not - on the wrong side). Add to that the fact Cygwin gives Windows a bunch of nice tools, langauges and a decent shell and windowed console.
- RyanMcGreal 15y ago
  I just tried to install node on cygwin and it failed with this error: ------ src/uv-cygwin.c:33: error: ‘CLOCK_MONOTONIC’ undeclared (first use in this function) src/uv-cygwin.c:33: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once src/uv-cygwin.c:33: error: for each function it appears in.) make[1]: * [src/uv-platform.o] Error 1
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    I have abandoned Windows again a couple years back, but, from my experience, most stuff that compiles cleanly under Linux, compiles cleanly under Cygwin. Do you have the required libraries? What did configure say? Can you try an older version (one known to work) to see if it compiles?
  - 15y ago
statictype 15y ago
This is great. That means both Node.js and Coffeescript should now be natively available on Windows.
- jackfoxy 15y ago
  Please explain how native Coffeescript is available on Windows. I haven't been following that closely.
  - sjs 15y ago
    You can run a CoffeeScript repl using node.
    - jackfoxy 15y ago
      thx
wildmXranat 15y ago
Just throwing it out there, but what is the real reason behind making it windows friendly? Do developers want it or is it done with intentions to make it more appealing for corporate absorption?
- andypants 15y ago
  Well... windows is a pretty popular operating system.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- noonat 15y ago
  There are definitely use cases. My last employer worked on browser based gaming, and we were forced onto Windows because most of the games we needed to support and work with only ran on Windows. I had a really hard tine getting any significant adoption of Node because running it on Windows was difficult.
- agnokapathetic 15y ago
  http://nodejs.org/nodeconf.pdf http://nodejs.org/nodeconf.pdf With IO Completion Ports, the Windows kernel lends itself more to async server programming than Unix threads, Microsoft has committed to Joyent's port and with many developers working with Windows on their development boxes, even if they later deploy to a Linux environment, a windows port just makes sense.
  - hkarthik 15y ago
    I shudder at the thought of writing Node apps in Windows only to later deploy them to a Linux environment. Sounds like a debugging nightmare. Didn't we learn these lessons from the early days of Java when it was "write once, debug everywhere"?
- bmj 15y ago
  I work at a Windows shop, and this comes at a good time for us, as node would scratch an itch, but prior to the Windows release, would have required additional infrastructure to use.
taylorbuley 15y ago
That was quick! Wasn't this just announced in June? http://blog.nodejs.org/2011/06/23/porting-node-to-windows-with-microsoft%E2%80%99s-help/ http://blog.nodejs.org/2011/06/23/porting-node-to-windows-wi...
powertower 15y ago
I/O Completion Ports abstraction is here: https://github.com/joyent/libuv https://github.com/joyent/libuv

61 points by spotirca 15y ago

mirrorskin 15y ago

Did anyone manage to get npm up and running on Windows yet?

davej 15y ago
No, there are still a number of issues with NPM support on windows. Isaacs talks about them on the latest NodeUp podcast: http://nodeup.com/ http://nodeup.com/
- xtian 15y ago
  Check out ryppi for bare-bones package installation, though: https://github.com/japj/ryppi https://github.com/japj/ryppi

insraq 15y ago

Still lots of bugs and many features are not supported. But it is good to know they are working actively on this.

binarymax 15y ago

I absolutely love the fact that its just a single exe and not some bloated install. I wish more win software was built like this.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Why? If you use someone else's library there's going to be a dll associated. Node doesn't have any dependencies.
- deskamess 15y ago
  Does a javascript engine like V8 have to be installed separately to avoid dependency issues? Microsoft has the Chakra engine but as far as I know it was running inside IE only.
  - hvs 15y ago
    It's compiled into Node.
  - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
    V8 is open source, so it's compiled into Node. But I don't even compile open-source libraries into my windows assemblies. That seems like an incredible waste of time for little benefit.
    - sjs 15y ago
      The distribution & install story is better w/ a single statically linked exe (imo of course). Not to mention installing node for development and on servers. When everything is in one place it's just so easy. I think the benefit is huge and don't see how it's a waste of time. Node is linked to specific V8 versions, it makes sense to include it.
      - mathgladiator 15y ago
        Case in point: putty.exe
xiaoqmangg 15y ago
welcometo: http://www.fullmalls.com http://www.fullmalls.com The website wholesale for many kinds of fashion shoes, like the nike,jordan,prada,, also including the jeans,shirts,bags,hat and the decorations. All the products are free shipping, and the the price is competitive, and also can accept the paypal payment.,after the payment, can ship within short time. free shippingcompetitive priceany size availableaccept the paypal ===== http://www.fullmalls.com http://www.fullmalls.com ===== jordan shoes $32nike shox $32Christan Audigier bikini $23 Ed Hardy Bikini $23Smful short_t-shirt_woman $15ed hardy short_tank_woman $16Sandal $32christian loubo utin $80 Sunglass $15 COACH_Necklace $27handbag $33AF tank woman $17puma slipper woman $30 ===== http://www.fullmalls.com http://www.fullmalls.com ===== ===== http://www.fullmalls.com http://www.fullmalls.com ===== ===== http://www.fullmalls.com http://www.fullmalls.com ===== ===== http://www.fullmalls.com http://www.fullmalls.com ===== ===== http://www.fullmalls.com http://www.fullmalls.com =====

christkv 15y ago

Yeah there will be plenty off issues using npm. The native npm packages will most likely break. Npm has support for binary builds but I'm not sure most packages will have a completely separate build process set up for windows. In the case of the mongodb package I'm deprecating the c++ bson parser as the js parser is as fast or faster than the c++ bson parser (v8 crankshaft and fast arrays rock) and this "should" make it work out of the box on the windows node.js build (crossing fingers)

rbanffy 15y ago

Unless you are deploying on Windows, why not run it under cygwin? You may end up with a lot of silly problems with file paths, case insensitivity and any other "impedance mismatch" between your development environment and whatever server the workload will run on. I did a lot of Django development on Windows and Cygwin saved me a whole lot of pain.

tildedave 15y ago
In my opinion, if you are developing for a Linux deployment on Windows it's easier to use VirtualBox to host a Linux OS. (That goes out the window if you are talking about performance testing of course.)
- rbanffy 15y ago
  My first corporate issued laptop wasn't beefy enough to run Linux under a VM. Besides, it's convenient to have everything under one file space (moving things to and from the VM tends to be a pain - and if you get your email on Windows, important files will be, more often than not - on the wrong side). Add to that the fact Cygwin gives Windows a bunch of nice tools, langauges and a decent shell and windowed console.
RyanMcGreal 15y ago
I just tried to install node on cygwin and it failed with this error: ------ src/uv-cygwin.c:33: error: ‘CLOCK_MONOTONIC’ undeclared (first use in this function) src/uv-cygwin.c:33: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once src/uv-cygwin.c:33: error: for each function it appears in.) make[1]: * [src/uv-platform.o] Error 1
- rbanffy 15y ago
  I have abandoned Windows again a couple years back, but, from my experience, most stuff that compiles cleanly under Linux, compiles cleanly under Cygwin. Do you have the required libraries? What did configure say? Can you try an older version (one known to work) to see if it compiles?
- 15y ago

statictype 15y ago

This is great. That means both Node.js and Coffeescript should now be natively available on Windows.

jackfoxy 15y ago
Please explain how native Coffeescript is available on Windows. I haven't been following that closely.
- sjs 15y ago
  You can run a CoffeeScript repl using node.
  - jackfoxy 15y ago
    thx

wildmXranat 15y ago

Just throwing it out there, but what is the real reason behind making it windows friendly? Do developers want it or is it done with intentions to make it more appealing for corporate absorption?

andypants 15y ago
Well... windows is a pretty popular operating system.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
noonat 15y ago
There are definitely use cases. My last employer worked on browser based gaming, and we were forced onto Windows because most of the games we needed to support and work with only ran on Windows. I had a really hard tine getting any significant adoption of Node because running it on Windows was difficult.
agnokapathetic 15y ago
http://nodejs.org/nodeconf.pdf http://nodejs.org/nodeconf.pdf With IO Completion Ports, the Windows kernel lends itself more to async server programming than Unix threads, Microsoft has committed to Joyent's port and with many developers working with Windows on their development boxes, even if they later deploy to a Linux environment, a windows port just makes sense.
- hkarthik 15y ago
  I shudder at the thought of writing Node apps in Windows only to later deploy them to a Linux environment. Sounds like a debugging nightmare. Didn't we learn these lessons from the early days of Java when it was "write once, debug everywhere"?
bmj 15y ago
I work at a Windows shop, and this comes at a good time for us, as node would scratch an itch, but prior to the Windows release, would have required additional infrastructure to use.

taylorbuley 15y ago

That was quick! Wasn't this just announced in June? http://blog.nodejs.org/2011/06/23/porting-node-to-windows-with-microsoft%E2%80%99s-help/ http://blog.nodejs.org/2011/06/23/porting-node-to-windows-wi...

powertower 15y ago

I/O Completion Ports abstraction is here: https://github.com/joyent/libuv https://github.com/joyent/libuv