Using UglifyJs on the whole Node project? - node.js

I need to obfuscate my source code as best as possible so I decided to use uglifyjs2.. Now I have the project structure that has nested directories, how can I run it through uglifyjs2 to do the whole project instead of giving it all the input files?
I wouldn't mind if it minified the whole project into a single file or something

I've done something very similar to this in a project I worked on. You have two options:
Leave the files in their directory structure.
This is by far the easier option, but provides a much lower level of obfuscation since someone interested enough in your code basically has a copy of the logical organization of files.
An attacker can simply pretty-print all the files and rename the obfuscated variable names in each file until they have an understanding of what is going on.
To do this, use fs.readdir and fs.stat to recursively go through folders, read in every .js file and output the mangled code.
Compile everything into a single JS file.
This is much more difficult for you to implement, but does make life harder on an attacker since they no longer have the benefit of your project's organization.
Your main problem is reconciling your require calls with files that no longer exist (since everything is now in the same file).
I did this by using Uglify to perform static analysis of my source code by analyzing the AST for calls to require. I then loaded the source code of the required file and repeated.
Once all code was loaded, I replaced the require calls with calls to a custom function, wrapped each file's source code in a function that emulates how node's module system works, and then mangled everything and compiled it into a single file.
My custom require function does most of what node's require does except that rather than searching the disk for a module, it searches the wrapper functions.
Unfortunately, I can't really share any code for #2 since it was part of a proprietary project, but the gist is:
Parse the source text into an AST using UglifyJS.parse.
Use the TreeWalker to visit every node of the AST and check if
node instanceof UglifyJS.AST_Call && node.start.value == 'require'

As I have just completed a huge pure Nodejs project in 80+ files I had the same problem as OP. I needed at least a minimal protection for my hard work, but it seems this very basic need had not been covered by the NPMjs OS community. Add salt to injury the JXCore package encryption system was cracked last week in a few hours so back to obfuscation...
So I created the complete solution, that handles file merging, uglifying. You have the option of leaving out specified files/folders as well from merging. These files are then copied to the new output location of the merged file and references to them are rewritten auto.
NPMjs link of node-uglifier
Github repo of of node-uglifier
PS: I would be glad if people would contribute to make it even better. This is a war between thieves and hard working coders like yourself. Lets join our forces, increase the pain of reverse engineering!

This isn't supported natively by uglifyjs2.
Consider using webpack to package up your entire app into a single minified .js file, excluding node_modules:
http://jlongster.com/Backend-Apps-with-Webpack--Part-I

I had the same need - for which I created node-optimize and grunt-node-optimize.
https://www.npmjs.com/package/grunt-node-optimize

Related

Can SCons be used to construct targets from indeterminately named source files?

I have a directory with multiple source files of indeterminate name. The only thing I know is the file extension. I want to take each source file, and build a single target from each. The method I'm currently using is to determine the name of each source using a for loop:
targets = []
for file in listdir('.'):
if file.endswith('.xdm'):
targets += env.m4(source=file)
The advantage of doing it progrmatically like this is that the SConscript doesn't have to be maintained by the developers as they add new sources. The problem is that the targets are no longer cleaned because of something to do with dependencies that I don't entirely understand.
So my question is is there a more appropriate way to do this, using in-built SCons functionality, without relying on more traditional flow control, or should I just ensure that each of my sources is determined and list them individually in the SConscript?
Instead of fiddling with listdir I would simply use the Glob() method, as provided by SCons itself:
for file in Glob("*.xdm"):
env.m4(source=file)
This (like the example from your question) is a perfectly fine approach, since it uses the fact that SConscripts are actually Python scripts. The Glob() approach has the advantage of also finding *.xdm files that don't exist on the harddrive yet, but may get created as part of the build process later.
I wonder about the problems that you mentioned, regarding cleaning of the targets. The Q&A linked in your question above seems unrelated to me. If you experience actual "cleaning" problems with one of the approaches above, please post a separate question together with the full verbatim input and output. If it should turn out that this doesn't work out-of-the-box, I'd consider it to be a bug.

Can you create Typescript packages? like c# dlls

Is there any sort of notion of packaging typescript files currently?
One thing im finding a pain at the moment when trying to migrate a pure javascript project over to typescript is the references, in some cases where I have complex objects I am having to write several reference statements pulling files from all over the place.
Part of this is down to my project layout, as its a pretty big and modular one, so I have a system like this:
- modules
|- module1
|- models
|- services
|- controllers
|- module2
|- models
|- services
|- controllers
|- core
|- models
|- services
|- data
|- validation
There is much more, but you get the point, now currently core is used by every module, but with javascript I just expect it to be loaded in at runtime, which will still need to happen, however as the typescript concerns are only really at compile time I was wondering if there was some notion of packaging all typescript files up into some typescript library or something, and then that could be referenced from projects rather than having module1 models referencing core models etc.
The problem currently revolves around the directory structures, as the namespaces work fine but if I move a file I need to go to every file which references that moved file and update it. Which is tiresome, whereas if there is some sort of package idea then I could just reference that once its output, so im no longer worrying about file systems and directories, im just worrying about a package and namespaces.
I think a lot of this is very similar to how C# works, you have a project which has references. Then every file within that project can use any of the classes within the references, so the code exposure is managed by references and namespaces.
I am thinking about having my build script just make a local references.ts file and just loop through every *.ts file in the relavant module and put them into one big file:
///<reference path="core/models/some-model.ts"/>
///<reference path="core/models/some-model-2.ts"/>
///<reference path="core/services/some-service.ts"/>
like shown above, then using this reference file in all typescript files which require core files, so this acts as a kind of project level reference, this may mean some files have references they dont need, but its compile time so I dont really care...
I dont want to go hand rolling my own solution to this problem if a good way already exists, Hope that makes sense...
== EDIT ==
I just wanted to post this up here as for my scenario has saved me TONS of time and has also reduced my reference guff by like 99%, this wont be applicable for people who don't have build scripts though.
Right now assuming you do have a build script I took the path of having a step in my script which went through every single file within a root level directory (module1, module2 etc in this case) and it would then output a local.references.ts into a references folder within that directory. Then I manually have written an external.references.ts which references external descriptors or other modules references wherever needed.
After this part was done when I am compiling my typescript I basically point it again at the root directories and tell it to compile them all (*/.ts) into one big js file (i.e module1.js). Now because this will automatically include the local and external references, I dont need to put ANY reference declarations in the individual clases.
So this way providing the local and external reference files (local.reference.ts, external.reference.ts) are included within the bulk processing of the files you just have to worry about namespaces, making it pretty much the same as how C# would operate.
If however you do not have a build script which is able to do your local reference generation and compilation of typescript then the comment link given would be a good option.
Currently there is no formal process for packaging your source typescript files as a pre built library as you are describing.
There are a few different solutions currently used much like the one linked in the comments which will allow you to put all your references into central typescript files then just reference them from your individual scripts, or the approach you put forward where you do the same sort of approach but rather than manually writing it you get your build script to generate the references for you and get the compilation process to inject the references in rather than explicitly referencing them in each file.
As Typescript gets more mature there may be more formal ways of doing this, but for the moment just take whichever solution works best given your tooling and appraoch to developing with Typescript.

Is there any good build tool that stays out of my way?

As the title says, I want to have a build tool that quite much stays out of my way.
I would rather want to specify rules, rather than steps in the build process. I wan to say that I want a binary file with a name placed in the root directory of my project, .o files should go in an obj/tmp dir and the source is in the Source-directory.
I do NOT want to tell it that it is this'n'that file as I keep adding new files rather quickly, it should just scan the source directory (and its subdirectories) looking for Ragel (.rl) and C++ code (.cxx) and doing what's necessary to make all into an executable.
I have looked into many tools, like auto{make,conf,header} (Did not really like that I placed the files it wanted in a subdir of project root, eclipse did not like that either), CMake (Seems like I have to add all source-files myself, and is quite much a variation of autotools in my eyes). I have also read about ant, maven (I am also allergic against XML, it's a good format to serialize data for applications, not so much for humans. I would prefer YAML) and others on WikiPedia. And I have seen tools which seems good but which require to be set up as a webserver which is kinda overkill.
Also, I really need the ability to be able to work offline without internet connection!.
Right now it seems like the best option is to make a little script that finds all .cxx files and write an Unity.cxx and builds that one with G++, which probably is quite fast but to much an ugly hack, I guess.
Bonus Points:
Fast builds
Ability to type build test-1 or something and it will build and directly run test-1
Multi-core builds (i.e. faster builds)
Does really not interrupt my train of thought
CMake is great. It's free, cross-platform, and reasonably well documented. It supports "out of source builds", meaning none of the build files are placed in the source directory. That makes source control a bit easier. It can be set up to find new files (globbing). Fast?...It generates make files...after that it's up to your compiler. Multicore...again, more a function of the compiler. I've used CMake on Windows, Linux, and Mac...it just works.
Another that I haven't tried but have read about and plan to test is premake... http://industriousone.com/sample-script
cake from CoffeeScript is quite good, and I'm writing a similar tool using Lua myself.
CMake and premake Ain't build/maketools, they are build/make-descriptor generators; which may fit a large number of projects that ain't changing too much. But not for project where rapid prototyping is a key.
Right now, I'm doing a project where the browser updates when you hit the save-button in your text editor; You do not need to go to the browser and hit F5 (Which would cause a small delay while the browser load in everything again, and you would most likely loose the state of the page, like say that you have an menu open, and wish to tweak the look of the menu. You would be forced to navigate there again in your RIA).

#Grape in scripts with multiple files

I'd like to use #Grape in my groovy program but my program consists of several files. The examples on the Groovy Grape page all seem to assume that your script will consist of one file. How can I do this? Should I just add it to one of the files and expect that the imports will work from the others? If so, then is it common to place all the #Grape calls in one file with no other code? Do I need to add the Grape call to all files that will import the package? Do I need to download the JAR and create a Gradle file, which I was getting away without at this point?
the grape engine and the #grab annotation were created as part of core groovy with single file scripts in mind, to allow a chunk of text to easily become a fully functional program.
for larger applications, gradle is an awesome build tool with lots of useful features.
but yes, you can manage all the application dependencies just with grape.
whether you annotate every file or a single one does not matter, just make sure the #grab annotated file is read before you try to use the external class.
annotating the main class is probably better as you will easily lose track of library versions if you have the annotations scattered.
and yes, you should consider gradle for any application with more than a dozen files or anything you might want to reuse elsewhere as a library.
In my opinion, it depends how your program is to be run...
If your program is to be run as a collection of standalone scripts, then I'd probably stick the #Grab required for each script at the top of each of them.
If your program is more of a standard style program with a single point of entry, then I'd go for using a build tool like Gradle (as you say), as you get a lot of easy wins by using it.
Firstly, it makes it easy to define your dependencies (and build a single large jar containing all of them)
Secondly, Gradle makes it really easy to start writing tests, include code coverage plugins, or useful tools like codenarc to suggest possible fixes or improvements to your code. These all become invaluable not only for improving your code (or knowing your code works), but also when refactoring your code, you know you've not broken anything that used to work.

Recommended FHS compliant application test/install workflow under Linux?

I'm in the process of switching to Linux for development, and I'm puzzled about how to maintain a good FHS compliancy in my programs.
For example, under Windows, I know that all the resources (Bitmaps, audio data, etc.) that my program will need can be found with relative paths from the executable, so its the same if I'm running the program from my development directory, or from an installation (Under "Program Files" for example), the program will be able to locate all its files.
Now, under Linux, I see that usually the executable goes under /usr/local/bin and its resources on /usr/local/share. (And the truth is that I'm not even sure of this)
For convenience reasons (such as version control) I'd like to have all the files pertaining to the project under a same path, say, for example, project/src for the source and project/data for resource files.
Is there any standard or recommended way to let me just rebuild the binary for testing and use the files on the project/data directory, while also being able to locate the files when they are under /usr/local/share?
I thought for example of setting a symlink under /usr/local/share pointing to my resources dir, and then just hardcode that path inside my program, but I feel its quite hackish and not very portable.
Also, I thought of running an install script that copies all the resources to /usr/local/share everytime I change, or add resources, but I also feel its not a good way to do it.
Could anyone tell me or point me to where it tells how this issue is usually resolved?
Thanks!
For convenience reasons (such as version control) I'd like to have all the files pertaining to the project under a same path, say, for example, project/src for the source and project/data for resource files.
You can organize your source tree as you wish — it need not bear any resemblance to the FHS layout desired of installed software.
I see that usually the executable goes under /usr/local/bin and its resources on /usr/local/share. (And the truth is that I'm not even sure of this)
The standard prefix is /usr. /usr/local is for, well, "local installations" as the FHS spec reiterates.
Is there any standard or recommended way to let me just rebuild the binary for testing and use the files on the project/data directory
Definitely. Run ./configure --datadir=$PWD/share for example is the way to point your build to the data files form the source tree (substitute by proper path) and use something like -DDATADIR="'${datadir}'" in AM_CFLAGS to make the value known to the (presumably C) code. (All of that, provided you are using autoconf/automake. Similar options may be available in other build systems.)
This sort of hardcoding is what is used in practice, and it suffices. For a development build within your own working copy, having a hardcoded path should not be a problem, and final builds (those done by a packager) will simply use the standard FHS paths.
You could just test a few locations. For example, first check if you have a data directory within the directory you're currently running the program from. If so, just go ahead and use it. If not, try /usr/local/share/yourproject/data, and so on.
For developing/testing, you can use the data directory within your project folder, and for deploying, use the stuff in /usr/local/share/. Of course, you can test for even more locations (e.g. /usr/share).
Basically the requirement for this method is that you have a function that builds the correct paths for all filesystem accesses. Instead of fopen("data/blabla.conf", "w") use something like fopen(path("blabla.conf"), "w"). path() will construct the correct path from the path determined using the directory tests when the program started. E.g. if the path was /usr/local/share/yourproject/data/, the string returned by path("blabla.conf") would be "/usr/local/share/yourproject/data/blabla.conf" - and there is your nice absolute path.
That's how I'd do it. HTH.
My preferred solution in cases like this is to use a configuration file, along with a command-line option that overrides its location.
For example, a configuration file for a fully deployed application named myapp could reside in /etc/myapp/settings.conf and a part of it could look like this:
...
confdir=/etc/myapp/
bindir=/usr/bin/
datadir=/usr/share/myapp/
docdir=/usr/share/doc/myapp/
...
Your application (or a launcher script) can parse this file to determine where to find the rest of the needed files.
I believe that you can reasonably assume in your code that the location of the configuration file is fixed under /etc/myapp - or any other location specified at compile time. Then you provide a command line option to allow that location to be overridden:
myapp --configfile=/opt/myapp/etc/settings.conf ...
It might also make sense to have options for some of the directory paths as well, so that the user can easily override any of the configuration file settings. This approach has a couple of advantages:
Your users can relocate the application very easily - just by moving the files, modifying the paths in the configuration file and then using e.g. a wrapper script to call the main application with the proper --configfile option.
You can easily support FHS, as well as any other scheme you need to.
While developing, you can have your testsuite use a specially crafted configuration file with the paths being wherever you need them to be.
Some people advocate probing the system at runtime to resolve issues like this. I usually suggest avoiding such solutions for at least the following reasons:
It makes your program non-deterministic. You can never tell at a first glance which configuration file it picks up - especially if you have multiple versions of the application on your system.
At any installation mix-up, the application will remain fat and happy - and so will the user. In my opinion, the application should look at one specific and well-documented location and abort with an informative message if it cannot find what it is looking for.
It's highly unlikely that you will always get everything right. There will always be unexpected rare environments or corner cases that the application will not handle.
Such behaviour is against the Unix philosophy. Even comamnd shells probe multiple locations because all locations can hold a file that should be parsed.
EDIT:
This method is not mandated by any formal standard that I know of, but it is the prevalent solution in the Unix world. Most major daemons (e.g. BIND, sendmail, postfix, INN, Apache) will look for a configuration file at a certain location, but will allow you to override that location and - through the file - any other path.
This is mostly to allow the system administrator to implement whetever scheme they want or to setup multiple concurrent installations, but it does help during testing as well. This flexibility is what makes it a Best Practice if not a proper standard.

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