lone

Turn node.js apps into standalone executables.

npm install -g lone && lone ./path-to-app;
your app is ready: ./path-to-app/dist/app_OSX_64

explain

neat trick, but how? a slight twist on how node-webkit does it.

1. get the node source
2. add lone/_third_party_main.js to library files in node.gyp
3. compile node
4. run npm install on ./path-to-app
5. put everything from ./path-to-app in a tarball
6. mkdir -p ./path-to-app/dist && cat out/Release/node app.tar.gz > ./path-to-app/dist/app_OSX_64
7. when app_OSX_64is executed, node calls _third_party_main.js
8. read app_OSX_64 looking for a boundary where node stops and the app tarball begins
9. slice out the app tarball into a buffer that's inflated into a tmp directory and run
10. marinate, rotate, and cover

Gulp + GitHub Releases

Your source gets published to npm but how do you make your shiny new binaries available for easy downloading? Here's a gulp task that will build your binaries with lone and then upload them to GitHub releases.

First, we'll need some extra dev deps so:

npm install --save-dev gulp async github-release gulp-rename keepup

Now add a gulpfile.js to the root of your project:

var gulp = require('gulp'),
  exec = require('child_process').exec,
  async = require('async'),
  release = require('github-release'),
  rename = require('gulp-rename'),
  keepup = require('keepup');
 
// Delete crap we don't need, which ends up saving several megabytes.
function cleanup(cb){
  var tasks = [],
    blobs = '{test*,doc*,example*,bench*,image*,tool*,lcov-report*}',
    paths = [
      './node_modules/**/' + blobs,
      './node_modules/**/node_modules/**/' + blobs,
      './node_modules/**/node_modules/**/node_modules/**/' + blobs,
      './node_modules/**/node_modules/.bin',
      './node_modules/**/node_modules/**/node_modules/.bin'
    ];
 
  tasks = paths.map(function(p){
    return function(done){
      exec('rm -rf ' + p, done);
    };
  });
  tasks.push(function(done){exec('npm dedupe', done);});
  async.parallel(tasks, cb);
}
 
gulp.task('dist', function(cb){
  cleanup(function(){
    console.log('  → creating binaries for distribution');
    keepup('./node_modules/.bin/lone ')
      .on('data', function(buf){process.stdout.write(buf);})
      .on('stderr', function(buf){process.stderr.write(buf);})
      .on('complete', function(){
        var finalName = pkg.name + '_' + platform;
        if(platform === 'windows') finalName += '.exe';
 
        console.log('  ✔︎ Binary created: ' + path.resolve(
          __dirname + '/../dist/' + finalName));
 
        console.log('  → uploading release to github');
 
        gulp.src('./.lone/dist/' + pkg.name)
          .pipe(rename(finalName))
          .pipe(release(pkg))
          .on('end', function(){
            console.log('  ✔︎ Dist complete and uploaded to github');
            cb();
          });
      })
      .on('crash', function(data){
        console.log('  ✘ Binary build failed.  Check logs.  (exit code '+data.code+')');
        cb(new Error('Binary build failed.  Check logs.  (exit code '+data.code+')'));
      });
  });
});

Now we just run gulp dist on any platform and our app binaries are avilable on GitHub without having to mess around with windows paths or cygwin.

License

MIT

Continuum of making computers do things

3 classes of solutions: cli, "status bar", gui.

Naive model of methods for implementing solutions:

• scripts: perl, bash, python, BAT
• module: publish to pypi, npm, artifactory, etc
• native cli: c*, qt, many-others, way it's always been done
• dynamic cli: lone, go compile
• dynamic gui: node-webkit, atom-shell, brackets-shell
• native gui: Cocoa, winfx

class	upsides	downsides
script	worksforme	30 scripts to start mongod and none correct
module	reusable in web	need toolchain, language bias, etc
native cli	what people want.	hard, expensive
dynamic cli	what people want.	emerging
dynamic gui	what people want.	emerging
native gui	what people want.	really really hard

Status Bar Apps

Usually a feature of native gui apps, "status bar" apps (eg cloudup, dropbox, etc) should have a home of their own rather than glumping into lone's scope. This statusbar module might use lone under the hood, but definitely needs to be separate. Rumps is an example python impl.

BitBar is another exciting new project to solve this need. When paired with @sindresorhus/bitbar, writing these apps could not be much easier.