Debian packaging for Node.js projects written 100% in bash.

Simple.

npm install node-deb

This exists mostly as an internal tool for my company, so until there is an 0.2.0 release, there will not be any sort of assurances of compatibility between releases. This includes command line flags, executables, and init scripts.

node-deb [opts] -- file1 file2 ...

For the full list of options, run node-deb -h.

You do not need to add anything to package.json as it uses sane defaults. However, if you don't like these, there are two options for overrides: command line options, or the JSON object node_deb at the top level of your package.json.

For example, here are some sample node_deb overrides. The full list can be found by running node-deb --list-json-overrides.

{
  "name": "some-app",
  ...
  "node_deb": {
    "init": "systemd",
    "version": "1.2.3-beta",
    "start_command": "/usr/bin/node/ foo.js"
  }
}

Command line options always override values found in the node_deb object, and values found in the node_deb object always override the values found in the rest of package.json.

Examples can be found by looking at test.sh and the corresponding projects in the test directory.

package.json:

{
  "name": "some-app",
  "version": "1.2.3",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "/usr/bin/node app.js arg1 arg2 arg3"
  }
}

cmd: node-deb -- app.js lib/ package.json

You will get:

• A Debian package named some-app_1.2.3_all.deb
  • Containing the files app.js & package.json and the directory lib
  • Installed via
    • apt-get install some-app
    • apt-get install some-app=1.2.3

On install, you will get.

• An executable named some-app
  • That starts the app with the command /usr/bin/node app.js arg1 arg2 arg3
• An upstart init script installed to /etc/init/some-app.conf
• A systemd unit file installed to /etc/systemd/system/some-app.service
• A Unix user some-app
• A Unix group some-app

package.json:

{
  "name": "some-other-app",
  "version": "5.0.2",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "/usr/bin/node --harmony index.js"
  }
}

cmd: node-deb -u foo -g bar -v 20150826 -- index.js lib/ package.json

You will get:

• A Debian package named some-other-app_20150826_all.deb
  • Containing the files index.js & package.json and the directories lib and node_modules
  • Installed via
    • apt-get install some-other-app
    • apt-get install some-other-app=20150826

On install, you will get.

• An executable named some-other-app
  • That starts the app with the command /usr/bin/node --harmony index.js
• An upstart init script installed to /etc/init/some-other-app.conf
• A systemd unit file installed to /etc/systemd/system/some-other-app.service
• A Unix user foo
• A Unix group bar

node-deb can Debian-package itself. Just run ./node-deb -- node-deb templates/ package.json.

More complete examples can be found by looking at test.sh and the corresponding projects in the test directory.

• dpkg
• jq

These are both available through apt and brew.

Please make all pull requests to the develop branch.