how the official linux binary is built?

[shyhpei]

Version: 6.11.5
Platform: Linux fcdev 4.13.13-300.fc27.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Nov 15 15:47:50 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I am trying to build nodejs binary on a Fedora 27 host, using --fully-static, because my target host is Fedora Core 6. This is how I build:

./configure --fully-static
make -j

The compile/link would go thru and generate a node binary, with some warnings similar to the one below:

dso_dlfcn.c:(.text+0x12): warning: Using 'dlopen' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
/home/syen/src/node-v6.11.5/out/Release/obj.target/node/src/node.o: In function `node::InitGroups(v8::FunctionCallbackInfov8::Value const&)':

But I could run this node binary just fine on the Fedora 27 build host. But when I copy node binary to my target Fedora 6 host and run it, it would segment fault immediately without even get to the ">" prompt.

The weird thing is, the official linux binary from nodejs.org site would have no problem running on my target Fedora 6 host. I can get a ">" prompt, and I can execute my javascript with this binary.

So, my questions:

1. how is the official node binary for linux built?
2. why my "--fully-static" binary build would still generate some binary that will reference a shared glibc library?

I've looked up and down on nodejs website and I couldn't find any documentation on how the official binary was built...

[starkwang]

Hi! This issue tracker is for bugs and issues found within Node.js core.
For more general support questions like this one, please file an issue in our help
repo: https://github.com/nodejs/help

Thanks!

[shyhpei]

Sorry for filing this in wrong place and thanks for pointing out where to ask my question.

[joyeecheung]

@starkwang @shyhpei This doesn't look too far away from Node core..

1. The official release is built with this:

node/Makefile

Lines 918 to 940 in 81c2b59

	$(BINARYTAR): release-only
	$(RM) -r $(BINARYNAME)
	$(RM) -r out/deps out/Release
	$(PYTHON) ./configure \
	--prefix=/ \
	--dest-cpu=$(DESTCPU) \
	--tag=$(TAG) \
	--release-urlbase=$(RELEASE_URLBASE) \
	$(CONFIG_FLAGS) $(BUILD_RELEASE_FLAGS)
	$(MAKE) install DESTDIR=$(BINARYNAME) V=$(V) PORTABLE=1
	cp README.md $(BINARYNAME)
	cp LICENSE $(BINARYNAME)
	cp CHANGELOG.md $(BINARYNAME)
	ifeq ($(OSTYPE),darwin)
	SIGN="$(CODESIGN_CERT)" PKGDIR="$(BINARYNAME)" bash tools/osx-codesign.sh
	endif
	tar -cf $(BINARYNAME).tar $(BINARYNAME)
	$(RM) -r $(BINARYNAME)
	gzip -c -f -9 $(BINARYNAME).tar > $(BINARYNAME).tar.gz
	ifeq ($(XZ), 0)
	xz -c -f -$(XZ_COMPRESSION) $(BINARYNAME).tar > $(BINARYNAME).tar.xz
	endif
	$(RM) $(BINARYNAME).tar

2. Because of getaddrinfo IIRC. You can try linking against musl if you want a more static binary.

[bnoordhuis]

FTR, also answered in nodejs/help#1039.