This is a helper module for authors of Node.js native addon modules. It is basically the "swiss army knife" of require()ing your native module's .node file.

Throughout the course of Node's native addon history, addons have ended up being compiled in a variety of different places, depending on which build tool and which version of node was used. To make matters worse, now the gyp build tool can produce either a Release or Debug build, each being built into different locations.

This module checks all the possible locations that a native addon would be built at, and returns the first one that loads successfully.

Install with npm:

$ npm install bindings

Or add it to the "dependencies" section of your package.json file.

require()ing the proper bindings file for the current node version, platform and architecture is as simple as:

var bindings = require('bindings')('binding.node')

// Use your bindings defined in your C files
bindings.your_c_function()

When the .node file could not be loaded, node-bindings throws an Error with a nice error message telling you exactly what was tried. You can also check the err.tries Array property.

Error: Could not load the bindings file. Tried:
 → /Users/nrajlich/ref/build/binding.node
 → /Users/nrajlich/ref/build/Debug/binding.node
 → /Users/nrajlich/ref/build/Release/binding.node
 → /Users/nrajlich/ref/out/Debug/binding.node
 → /Users/nrajlich/ref/Debug/binding.node
 → /Users/nrajlich/ref/out/Release/binding.node
 → /Users/nrajlich/ref/Release/binding.node
 → /Users/nrajlich/ref/build/default/binding.node
 → /Users/nrajlich/ref/compiled/0.8.2/darwin/x64/binding.node
    at bindings (/Users/nrajlich/ref/node_modules/bindings/bindings.js:84:13)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/nrajlich/ref/lib/ref.js:5:47)
    at Module._compile (module.js:449:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:467:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
    ...

The searching for the .node file will originate from the first directory in which has a package.json file is found.

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2012 Nathan Rajlich <[email protected]>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.