Unlike GYP, the GN tool does not include any built-in rules for compiling a

project, which means projects building with GN must provide their own build

configurations for things like how to invoke a C++ compiler. Chromium related

projects like V8 and skia choose to reuse Chromium's build configurations, and

V8's Node.js integration testing repository

([node-ci](https://chromium.googlesource.com/v8/node-ci/)) can be reused for

building Node.js.

configurations for things like how to invoke a C++ compiler.

Chromium related projects like V8 and skia choose to reuse Chromium's build

configurations, and V8's Node.js integration testing repository

[`node-ci`][node-ci] can be reused for building Node.js.

### 1. Install `depot_tools`

The `depot_tools` is a set of tools used by Chromium related projects for

checking out code and managing dependencies, and since this guide is reusing the

infra of V8, it needs to be installed and added to `PATH`:

You'll need to install [`depot_tools`][depot-tools] the toolset

used for fetching Chromium and its dependencies.

```bash

git clone https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/tools/depot_tools.git

export PATH=/path/to/depot_tools:$PATH

```

You can also follow the [official tutorial of

`depot_tools`](https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chrome-infra-docs/flat/depot_tools/docs/html/depot_tools_tutorial.html).

You can ensure `depot_tools` is correctly added to your PATH by running

`which gn` and confirming that it returns `/path/to/depot_tools/gn`.

**NOTE:** On Windows you'll also need to set the environment variable

`DEPOT_TOOLS_WIN_TOOLCHAIN=0`. To do so, open `Control Panel` → `System and

Security` → `System` → `Advanced system settings` and add a system variable

`DEPOT_TOOLS_WIN_TOOLCHAIN` with value `0`. This tells `depot_tools` to use

your locally installed version of Visual Studio (by default, `depot_tools` will

try to download a Google-internal version that only Googlers have access to).

### 2. Check out code of Node.js

### 2. Checkout Node.js Source Code

To check out the latest main branch of Node.js for building, use the `fetch`

tool from `depot_tools`:

### 3. Build

GN only supports [`ninja`](https://ninja-build.org) for building, so to build

Node.js with GN, `ninja` build files should be generated first, and then

`ninja` can be invoked to do the building.

GN only supports [`ninja`](https://ninja-build.org) for building. To build

Node.js with GN you'll first need to generate `ninja` build files and then invoke

`ninja` to perform the build.

The `node-ci` repository provides a script for calling GN:

```

which writes `ninja` build files into the `out/Release` directory under

`node_gn/node`.

`node_gn/node`. To see all possible configurable options, run

`tools/gn-gen.py --help`.

And then you can execute `ninja`:

When `gn-gen.py` has executed successfully, you can then execute `ninja`:

```bash

ninja -C out/Release node

## Status of the GN build

Currently the GN build of Node.js is not fully functioning. It builds for macOS

and Linux, while the Windows build is still a work in progress. And some tests

are still failing with the GN build.

Currently the GN build of Node.js is not fully functioning. Some tests

are still failing with the GN build, and there may be other small pitfall

for certain configuration options.

An effort is currently underway to make GN build work without using `depot_tools`,

which is tracked in [#51689](https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/51689).

There are also efforts on making GN build work without using `depot_tools`,

which is tracked in the issue

[#51689](https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/51689).

[depot-tools]: https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chrome-infra-docs/flat/depot_tools/docs/html/depot_tools_tutorial.html#_setting_up

[node-ci]: https://chromium.googlesource.com/v8/node-ci