electron: [Bug]: Link error for native c++ modules

@VerteDinde, I find the decision to build Electron on Windows using a C++ runtime that it just out of beta instead of the MS C++ runtime highly unusual - but there is probably a good reason for it. But in this case, I suggest that you also include this runtime along the node.lib DLL import library so that native modules can link with it. Currently, if I want to port my native Node.js addon to Electron I have only two choices and both are horrible:

• Reimplement the APIs that use std::shared_ptr as some people in this thread did
• Recompile the clang libc++ for Windows

All of this renders the port of a native Node.js addon to Electron a huge undertaking and completely destroys the dream of simply launching electron-rebuild and going for a cup of coffee.

I ended up adding the following to my node-gyp config:

{
        'variables': { 'runtime%': 'node' },
        'conditions': [
            ['runtime=="electron"', { 'defines': ['NODE_RUNTIME_ELECTRON=1'] }],
        ]
}

And using the follow #if

  #if _MSC_VER && NODE_RUNTIME_ELECTRON && NODE_MODULE_VERSION >= 89
    v8::Local<v8::Object> local;
    node::Buffer::New(isolate, buffer, 0, buffer->ByteLength()).ToLocal(&local);
    return Neon_Buffer_Data(isolate, base_out, local);
  #else
    #if (V8_MAJOR_VERSION >= 8)
        auto contents = buffer->GetBackingStore();
        *base_out = contents->Data();
        return contents->ByteLength();
    #else
        v8::ArrayBuffer::Contents contents = buffer->GetContents();
        *base_out = contents.Data();
        return contents.ByteLength();
    #endif
  #endif

Not the most elegant or low cost solution, but hopefully that works as a stop gap while my users migrate to Node-API.

Is there a #def that can be used to tell if the module is being built for electron? My solution was a bit convoluted.

Just a note: I’d recommend that all native modules use N-API and avoid nan, for this kind of reason. C++ ABIs are very difficult to stabilize. N-API is explicitly designed as a stable ABI target. https://nodejs.org/api/n-api.html

@somanuell That’s a sample of the neon project source. Neon_Buffer_Data is a very small helper that gets the contents of the buffer:

extern "C" size_t Neon_Buffer_Data(v8::Isolate *isolate, void **base_out, v8::Local<v8::Object> obj) {
  *base_out = node::Buffer::Data(obj);

  return node::Buffer::Length(obj);
}

The result of node::Buffer::New goes into local and then node::Buffer::Data can be used to get the buffer data out.

Is the solution here to switch to clang?

Yep, using the same clang + std library that Electron uses to build is the safest way to build native modules that interact with the std library.