build error on windows

[soliton4]

hi i am getting this build error on windows
MSBUILD : error MSB6006: "VCBuild.exe" exited with code -1. [C:\projects\nodemirror\test\node_modules\pty.js\build\binding.sln]
MSBUILD : error MSB6006: "VCBuild.exe" exited with code -1. [C:\projects\nodemirror\test\node_modules\pty.js\build\binding.sln]

i used to have vs2008 and vs2010 installed but now only vs2012 is installed
i still get the error

i primarily developing for unix so this is strange to me
any help? maybe its a bug?

btw its a 64bit os

[schmod]

I forget exactly what I needed to do to get this to build.... I seem to remember that using VS2012 was causing headaches, as node-gyp was having trouble with the multiple VS installations on my PC.

Can you try building the winpty dependency first, and see if that works without any errors? That ended up being the source of most of my problems. I had to modify winpty.gyp before the thing would build properly.

[soliton4]

if it wasnt for win i would have integrated pty allready into my node-mirror project. damn that os but back to the issue.
i am new to node-gyp. can you give me some starters?
how do i build one depencency? can you point out a good starter documentation on node-gyp.
i am happy to provide feedback from my screwed up office windows machine. but my motivation needs a kick in the butt.
thank you

[schmod]

Change into the deps/winpty directory, rename winpty.gyp to binding.gyp, and run node-gyp rebuild

This is just a troubleshooting step to see where you're actually running into compilation trouble. npm and node-gyp's error messages tend to be incredibly unhelpful.

[soliton4]

i downloaded your latest release and the master from https://github.com/peters/winpty
did the node-gyp rebuild
same error
i am beginning to suspect the error is on my side.
3 thoughts:

• first and most important: i get the same error when i install socket.io but the module is useable nevertheless. is this due to some precomiled bin that is provided by socket.io? if so could you do the same? this would be important to my target user group because i want to use node-mirror for educational stuff and i dont want them to have to worry about cracy microsoft compilers.
• snd: do you have any information on the compiler error. since it seems to be a more common issue i would like to read up on it and maybe fix my machine. i am quite fit in c++ but ms compilers give me a headake.
• 3rd: thanks for putting up with me. if you like we can go through this together but i also understand if you say "thats not my problem" because it really isnt.

thank you

[soliton4]

me again. turned out there was still a vs2008 installation present. (they are like viruses)
i got rid of it and now npm install pty.js runs through.

i am still wondering about delivering precompiled bins.
is it possible?

thx

[schmod]

I think it's generally unsupported or frowned upon at the moment (womp). It definitely would be nice if npm/node-gyp could either fetch precompiled binaries, or install compilation dependencies on their own.

This was being worked on at isaacs/npm/issues/1891, and nodejs/node-v0.x-archive/issues/4398. I don't think that there's really a recommended path forward right now (although some seem to have hacked their way around the issue)

[soliton4]

hi long time no chat.
i managed to integrate pty.js in nodeMirror. allow me to agitate you to try it out for 2 reasons:

• first, because i am proud of it ;). pls note that pty.js is not a dependency. pty.js will be installed on first use of the terminal.
• second, because i have a problem ;(
  pty runs fine in linux/osx but with windows it crashes (!). i can not reproduce the crash using a your example from https://github.com/chjj/pty.js/
  however i can not get the example running. all i get is the output "windows shell". if i try to make a "dir\n" nothing happens.
  i am confused. maybe you have any ideas about the crash and the not running issue.
  can it be an issue that i am trying to start pty.js within a cluster child process?

pls refer to
https://npmjs.org/package/node-mirror
or
https://github.com/soliton4/nodeMirror
to reproduce the crash.

if you are interested in details the pty.js is initialized in src/server/server.js. the npm version is a compressed build so i recommend github for sourcebrowsing.

thank you very much ;)
sol

ps: it took so long because of holiday + sickness + harddiskcrash so i had to do it all twice ;) not because pty.js is so hard to use. a better documentation would be cool thou.

[peters]

@soliton4 See #40

[peters]

NB! It will not compile on VS 2008 (VS9). So if you don't have anything newer i suggest you download an express edition.

[soliton4]

thank you peters for contributing. the build issue has been resolved allready. i use vs 2012 now.
however i have the problem now that its unuseable in windows.
i even get crashes when i integrate it in node-mirror.
is your first post regarding to that?

thx

[soliton4]

@schmod delivering binaries in npm is possible. nodeMirror is a running example.
see #45