build-from-source.md

Build from Source

Prerequisites

node-webrtc uses cmake-js to build from source. When building from source, in addition to the prerequisites required by cmake-js, you will need

• Git
• Ninja
• CMake 3.15 or newer
• Linux: GCC 10.1 or newer
• MacOS: Xcode 12 or newer
  • MacOSX11.3.sdk installed, see https://github.com/phracker/MacOSX-SDKs
• Windows: Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 or newer, with the Clang toolchain installed
• Check the additional prerequisites listed by WebRTC - although their install is automated by the CMake scripts provided

Install

Once you have the prerequisites, clone the repository, set the SKIP_DOWNLOAD environment variable to "true", and run npm install. Just like when installing prebuilt binaries, you can set the TARGET_ARCH environment variable to "arm" or "arm64" to build for armv7l or arm64, respectively. Linux and macOS users can also set the DEBUG environment variable for debug builds.

git clone https://github.com/node-webrtc/node-webrtc.git
cd node-webrtc
npm run build

Subsequent Builds

Subsequent builds can be triggered with cmake, e.g. on MacOS:

cmake --build build-darwin-x64

You can pass either --debug or --release to build a debug or release build of node-webrtc (and the underlying WebRTC library). Refer to the CMake documentation for additional command line options.

Other Notes

Linux

On Linux, we dynamically link against the platform's libc and libc++. Also, although we compile WebRTC sources with Clang (downloaded as part of WebRTC's build process), we compile node-webrtc sources with the platform's complier

macOS

On macOS, we statically link libc++ and libc++abi. Also, we compile WebRTC sources with the version of Clang downloaded as part of WebRTC's build process, but we compile node-webrtc sources using the system Clang.

arm64

In order to cross-compile for arm64 on MacOS,

1. Set TARGET_ARCH to "arm64"
2. Re-run npm run build

Windows

We use the Clang toolchain and the Ninja generator on Windows in order to have similar support for the clangd language server and compile_commands.json; Visual Studio proper has not been tested.

To fix the error Filename too long, when downloading libwebrtc, use (optionally with --global or --system switches to set for more than just this project):

git config core.longpaths true

Creating symbolic links with MKLINK is used by the build script but is disabled for non-Administrative users by default with a local security policy. On Windows 10, fix this with Run (Windows-R) then gpedit.msc. Edit key "Local Computer Policy -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> User Rights Assignment -> Create Symbolic Links" and add your user name. Log out and in to change the policy. Note the associated security vunerability.

The Windows SDK debugging tools should be installed. One way to achieve this is to Download the Windows Driver Kit.

Test

Unit & Integration Tests

Once everything is built, run

npm test

Other tests will be written as needed, once feature parity is reached again.