node-gyp 7.1.0

Node-gyp is a cross-platform command-line tool created with Node.js that is used for compiling native addon modules for Node.js. It's designed to work on multiple target versions of Node.js, irrespective of which version of Node.js is installed on your system. Node-gyp achieves this by downloading the required development files or headers for the targeted version. It's important to note that while node-gyp aids in the development of Node.js native addons, it is not utilized for building Node.js itself.

Utilizing node-gyp requires a few steps. First, you need to install it through npm by running npm install -g node-gyp in your terminal. Node-gyp has dependencies on Python, make and a C/C++ compiler toolchain like GCC on Unix, Python and XCode Command Line Tools on macOS, and Python and Visual C++ Build Environment on Windows, so ensure these are correctly installed on your system.

Once installed and dependencies are resolved, using node-gyp involves generating project build files and then invoking the build command. Here's a simple usage example for your native addon:

cd my_node_addon
node-gyp configure
node-gyp build

In this example, you first navigate to the root directory of your native addon, generate the necessary project build files for your platform using the configure command, and then build your native addon with the build command. The compiled bindings will be found in build/Debug/ or build/Release/ depending on your build mode.

You can access the detailed and extensive node-gyp documentation in the docs directory on the package's GitHub repository link: node-gyp Github repository. This documentation provides additional information on specific node-gyp topics which can come in handy when installing or building addons using node-gyp. It also has the command and configuration options for finer control over your builds.