Note: This document has not yet been revised.

Building From Source

Step 1: Prerequisites

• Git. To install using:

  • for Debian/Ubuntu: apt-get install git
  • for Arch: pacman -S git

• Node 4.x

• NPM 2.x

Note: If you're using Node 5.x and NPM 3.x, the build process will crash, further Information under [[Troubleshooting]] or Issue #218

After you installed the prerequisites just clone the repository

$ git clone https://github.com/NodeOS/NodeOS.git

Step 2 (Debian/Ubuntu): Dependencies

Once you've installed the prerequisites you need the dependencies for Debian/Ubuntu using apt-get. First you need to update your cache. To do so run

$ dpkg --add-architecture i386
$ apt-get -qq -y update

Then you install the dependencies listed below

• cross compiler dependencies: apt-get -qq -y gcc g++ realpath texinfo
• barebones dependencies: apt-get -qq -y bc libpixman-1-dev
• rootfs dependencies: apt-get -qq -y genisoimage libuuid:i386
• userfs dependencies: apt-get -qq -y autoconf automake
• qemu dependencies: apt-get -qq -y libsdl1.2-dev

Or as a one liner:

$ apt-get -qq -y gcc g++ realpath texinfo bc libpixman-1-dev genisoimage libuuid:i386 autoconf automake libsdl1.2-dev

Or just run if you're outside the folder

$ cd NodeOS/
$ bin/install-debian-deps

Step 2 (Arch Linux): Dependencies

Once you have installed the prerequisites you need the dependencies for Arch Linux

• cross compiler dependencies: pacman -S gcc texinfo python2
• barebones dependencies: pacman -S bc pixman lib32-pixman
• rootfs dependencies: pacman -S cdrkit
• initramfs dependencies: pacman -S cpio
• userfs dependencies: pacman -S autoconf automake
• qemu dependencies: pacman -S sdl

Note: The initramfs dependencies are not shipped with the installation of Arch Linux thats why we need to install them on Arch Linux

Or as one liner:

$ pacman -S gcc texinfo python2 bc pixman lib32-pixman cdrkit cpio autoconf automake sdl

Or just run if you're outside the folder

$ cd NodeOS/
$ bin/install-arch-deps

Step 3: Installation

Once you've installed the correct dependencies for your operating system you can start with the installation of NodeOS.

Note: If you have Arch Linux you need to set python2 as default binary when you run python. Because the standard python binary is python3 and nodegyp doesn't uses it. To do this, run following commands:

$ cd /usr/bin
$ ln -sf python2 python

The next step is to install the npm dependencies and the bundled dependencies to do this run following command:

$ npm install

If you want to change the target platform to build NodeOS for, just prepend the PLATFORM argument before npm install. Example (NodeOS for QEMU 32bit):

$ PLATFORM=qemu_32 npm install
or
$ PLATFORM=docker npm install

Now it should install correctly. This process can take some time, so pick some microwave pop-corn and go to see a movie. No, really... do it.

Step 4: Run your fresh NodeOS build

Now you can run your fresh build with:

$ npm start

If NodeOS does not boot into the REPL, unless you wanted that, then everything was compiled correctly. If not look under [[Troubleshooting]]

After NodeOS has booted up you should see something like:

Hello! I'm a user init script :-)

Now you're prompted to enter your username and password. By default, the username and password is nodeos and cannot be changed without altering code.

$ username: nodeos
$ password: nodeos

Note: This is not permanent on later versions this will be changed