These draft guidelines have not been approved by FPC and are incomplete (most notably missing anything about native (binary) modules).
Original Author: T.C. Hollingsworth
Based on the guidelines of other interpreted languages like Ruby and Python.
Naming Guidelines
- The name of a Node.js extension/library package must start with nodejs- then the upstream name or name used in the npm registry. For example:
nodejs-foomodule. While it is uncommon for package's name to contain node, it may be desirable to leave it in (unlike most other language's modules, where it is usually removed). For instance, the npm registry contains a uuid and a node-uuid module, which would need to be named nodejs-uuid and nodejs-node-uuid, repsectively.
- Application packages that mainly provide user-level tools that happen to be written for Node.js must follow the general naming guidelines instead.
BuildRequires
To build a package containing Node.js files, you need to have:
BuildRequires: nodejs-devel
Macros
In Fedora 18 and later, as well as EPEL 6, the following macros are defined for you:
| Macro | Normal Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| __nodejs | /usr/bin/node | The Node.js interpreter |
| nodejs_version | e.g. 0.9.5 | The currently installed version of Node.js. |
| nodejs_sitelib | /usr/lib/node_modules | Where Node.js modules are installed |
| nodejs_symlink_deps | /usr/lib/rpm/nodejs-symlink-deps | See #Symlinking Dependencies below. |
| nodejs_fixdep | /usr/lib/rpm/nodejs-fixdep | See #Correcting Dependencies |
These macros are provided by the nodejs package.
During %install or when listing %files you can use the %nodejs_sitelib macro to specify where the installed modules are to be found. For instance:
%files
%{nodejs_sitelib}/foomodule/
Using this macro instead of hardcoding the directory in the specfile ensures your spec remains compatible with the installed Node.js version even if the directory structure changes radically (for instance, if %nodejs_sitelib moves into %{_datadir}).
Automatic Requires and Provides
The nodejs package includes an automatic Requires and Provides generator that automatically adds versioned dependencies based on the information provided in a modules package.json file.
Provides
It also adds virtual provides in the form npm(<module name>) to identify modules listed in the npm registry. If a module is not listed in the npm registry, it must not provide this. Modules that aren't listed in the npm registry should set private to true in their package.json file. If not, you must patch it to include that or use RPM's filtering mechanism to remove the Provides.
Correcting Dependencies
Occasionally the dependencies listed in package.json are inaccurate. For instance, the module may work with a newer version of a dependency than the one explictly listed in the package.json file. To make correcting such dependencies easier, the %nodejs_fixdep macro is provided and may be used instead of RPM's usual filtering mechanism. This macro should be used in %prep and will patch package.json to contain the correct dependency information.
RPM macros like
%nodejs_symlink_deps rely on accurate information in package.json to work properly, as does the Node.js interpreter and npm at runtime.To convert any dependency to not list a specific version, just call %nodejs_fixdep with the npm module name of the dependency. This changes the version in package.json to *. (Or adds one if it wasn't already listed.) For example:
%prep %setup -q -n package %nodejs_fixdep foomodule
You can also specify a version:
%prep %setup -q -n package %nodejs_fixdep foomodule '>2.0'
The second argument to %nodejs_fixdep must be a valid package.json version specifier as explained in man npm json
You can also remove a dependency:
%prep %setup -q -n package %nodejs_fixdep -r foomodule
You should always send patches or bugs upstream when correcting dependencies.
Symlinking Dependencies
Node.js and npm require that dependencies explicitly be included or linked into a node_modules directory inside the module directory. To make this easier, a %nodejs_symlink_deps macro is provided and will automatically create a node_modules tree with symlinks for each dependency listed in package.json. This macro should be called in the %install section of every Node.js module package.