I've been doing some research: You can't build PPA's from a Node.js application.
Apparently, this is not a rule, since there are a few projects that have successfully achieve this. WebUDP8 is an example; they build the PPA's for Atom IDE (using Electron) & Popcorn Time (using Node-Webkit)
I did what any human being would do: bother these guys, since there's no documentation (or at least, none that I found).
Their answer:
Launchpad PPAs don't support nodejs yet because they don't allow
fetching external resources. So the Popcorn TIme PPA used to be a
simple installer that automatically downloaded Popcorn Time from its
servers. But, as far as I'm aware of, I'm not using external
resources. It's not like I am downloading dependences from the
package.json. They are all --saved in the folder to build.
How can I make a PPA of my Electron App?
Does the Software Center work with PPA's as well, or only .deb's?
Related
We have a migration tool to migrate the customers data between different applications. I am looking for ideas to make it very easy for the customer to use this tool. Right now they invoke shell scripts with some options and get the data dump, but I want to make this even more easier for the end customer. Tool is written in nodejs
pkg could be what you're looking for.
From the package description:
This command line interface enables you to package your Node.js
project into an executable that can be run even on devices without
Node.js installed.
Use Cases
Make a commercial version of your application without
sources
Make a demo/evaluation/trial version of your app without
sources
Instantly make executables for other platforms
(cross-compilation) Make some kind of self-extracting archive or
installer No need to install Node.js and npm to run the packaged
application No need to download hundreds of files via npm install to
deploy your application. Deploy it as a single file Put your assets
inside the executable to make it even more portable Test your app
against new Node.js version without installing it
I'm looking for the proper way to distribute/deploy a node.js app that would run as a small webserver on the user's machine.
Is there a stub method or install script or a "install wizard" that would download all node_modules dependencies, download the latest nodejs binary, set up the environment, etc... or I have to distribute it bulk with everything packed? Is there any guide for that purpose?
Edited :
You could install node and npm, download your dependencies by running npm install in the command line (first declare them within your package.json) only then users can run your script. This is how you do development in Node.js, or deploy to a development server. See using npm. You could automate that with a shell script if that is what you are after.
However, when distributing programs to end-users that might not be the best approach. Linux users are used to a package (.deb for instance) and Windows users are used to an .exe or a setup wizard.
That is why I recommended the tools below. I also assumed you were targeting Windows as this is less of a problem is unix-like environments.
If you want a single file (.exe), pkg and nexe are made for that purpose. These Node.js tools are used by the developer to compile JavaScript code into a single executable binary that is convenient for end-users and Windows deployment. The resulting .exe file is very light and does not require node to be installed on the end-user’s computers.
Electron along with electron-packager can produce setup wizards, but it installs a lot of files even for the smallest program. Your program will include all of node and webkit, that is why it produces heavy installs.
NSIS can also create a setup wizard, it is simple and does common stuff well (copying files, running shell scripts).
Original answer:
Short answer is: not really.
You have to keep in mind that Javascript is and has always been interpreted, so until recently never compiled to binary as you might do with other languages. Some exploration has been going on, but essentially you won’t get a "good practice" answer.
The long answer is, maybe, for some limited use cases:
There is the fresh new pkg that does exactly this, and it looks promising.
There has been nexe for a while, it works great for some use cases (maybe yours). Native/compiled modules are still an issue however.
Electron might work for a full blown app with a significant user interface, but it is not light or compact.
You could always use browserify to concatenate and uglify all your code with the modules you use and then make an installer with something like NSIS to setup node and your script. Native modules would still be a problem however.
I am still new to the electron ecosystem and desktop development in general but what I wish to do is to interface with a third party, open source application that comes bundled in with my software. First, I am unsure on what the package options to distribute should be. Is it customary to have two downloads, one for users that already have the third party binary installed, and another one that includes it? Also how do I go about actually packaging, and installing the binary? Should this be an option on my package.json? What kind of script should I execute? Are there any npm modules to facilitate this?
edit - is it possible to invoke npm from my main.js even though a user has not previously installed node? I know node is bundled with the electron package but is npm too?
-The binary in this case is PostgreSQL
There are a couple of options coming to my mind.
Bundle a 3rd party installer w/ your app. This is what I did recently. On the first run I check if the service that I need is installed / running and if not I call the 3rd party installer / start it. When the installer quits I simply app.relaunch() and start consumig it. Of course you'll need installers for each platform you plan to support. And you'll have to figure out ways to check if the software is installed (properly) for each platform.
Bundle binaries w/ you app. Of course you can bundle pretty much anything w/ your electron app. Again, you'll need binaries for each platform you plan to support. And of course they shouldn't be linked to anything that the default user doesn't have on his machine like SDKs and additional headers ...
Less comfy but you can alway add some start-up message or before-download massage telling the user that he needs software xy in order to run your application.
Derivate of 1/2: Download required stuff on demand. For your example this would mean checking the user's OS and arch and then just download the required installers or binaries if available. You could also build the stuff on the user's machine although this probably being the worst/biggest/most complex solution.
Then there's things like https://www.npmjs.com/package/pg - you should always check npm if someone already built what you need ;)
I'd recommend using the great electron-builder which makes bundling stuff w/ your app a piece of cake.
Feel free to comment if you need more intel.
I'm currently working on a github project mainly focused on windows users, written in Java. Install4j allows for easy .deb/.rpm etc. package conversion...
We could just ditribute the .deb on the download side, but when looking at gitlab a while ago, I saw, that Gitlab is using packagecloud.io as a hosting service for their packages (usingtheir own domain), so they can be updated using apt-get.
My question is, if there is a free service working just like packagecloud.io (not launchpad or similar with baazar and that advanced stuff) which can either be hosted on our own server or a public server. Or if there even is a downloadable version of packagecloud.io which we could use on our own server.
You can configure Travis CI to run extra commands when the build succeeds. You can put in some conditions, so that the deploy stage will only be run if commit happens to have a tag name. See the deployment documentation to get going.
A number of providers are officially supported, among which PackageCloud.io.
You might find the dpl utility useful, as it assists with writing and testing deployment settings.
Check out OpenRepo: https://github.com/openkilt/openrepo
I think this is what you're asking for. This is a package hosting server that can make packages available for both Debian (APT) and Red Hat (RPM) files.
What is the recommended way to deploy Node.js on Ubuntu 12.04 in a production environment?
I saw this ppa but I don't know if is well maintained or if it will and if is a source in witch one can trust.
I know that is easy install Node.js manually, but seem to me that install it using the Ubuntu packages manager will allow me safe some management time and will be more integrated with the way the underlying server is being currently management. So, what are your recommendations? Thanks in advanced.
we are using Chef with the existing node.js cookbook
Well, after read lot of posts and pages that talk about Node.js deployment-installation, I must said that Chris PPA is mentioned in tons of them as an official source. Beside one can see her PPA linked at the Github Node.js wiki.
So, seem to me that is trust enough to be used in production, what made it the choice if you want keep your system updated using standards Ubuntu tools.