better-sqlite3 12.3.0 fails to build on Node.js latest (25)

[daniel-hauser]

• Building better-sqlite3@12.3.0 on Node.js 25.0.0 fails because util/macros.cpp is not found during the native compilation step.
• Although Node 25 is not yet listed as officially supported, the widespread use of node:latest (which switched to 25 on 2025-10-15) means many projects will encounter this failure

Reproduction Steps

1. Copy the following Dockerfile into your workspace

   ARG NODE_VERSION=24
   FROM node:${NODE_VERSION}
   
   WORKDIR /app
   
   RUN cat <<'EOF' > package.json
   {
     "name": "better-sqlite3-node-repro",
     "version": "1.0.0",
     "private": true,
     "type": "module",
     "dependencies": {
       "better-sqlite3": "12.3.0"
     }
   }
   EOF
   
   RUN npm install --package-lock-only
   RUN npm ci

2. Build with Node 24 (succeeds):

   docker build --no-cache --progress=plain -t repro-node24 --build-arg NODE_VERSION=24 .

3. Build with Node 25 (fails):

   docker build --no-cache --progress=plain -t repro-node25 --build-arg NODE_VERSION=25 .

Expected Result

• npm ci should complete successfully for both Node 24 and Node 25.

Actual Result (Node 25)

• npm ci exits with node-gyp error fatal error: util/macros.cpp: No such file or directory.

Key Portion of the Failing Output

npm warn EBADENGINE Unsupported engine { package: 'better-sqlite3@12.3.0', required: { node: '20.x || 22.x || 23.x || 24.x' }, current: { node: 'v25.0.0', npm: '11.6.2' } }
...
../src/better_sqlite3.cpp:21:10: fatal error: util/macros.cpp: No such file or directory
   21 | #include "util/macros.cpp"
      |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
make: *** [better_sqlite3.target.mk:122: Release/obj.target/better_sqlite3/src/better_sqlite3.o] Error 1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! build error

[neoxpert]

Some source files like utils/macros.cpp were missing with release 12.3.0. They have been included in 12.4.1, so you need to update the dependency.

[daniel-hauser]

Some source files like utils/macros.cpp were missing with release 12.3.0. They have been included in 12.4.1, so you need to update the dependency.

Tested with 12.4.1 and the build error is resolved, however since the prebuild is not available, npm ci takes 60 seconds (comparing to 2 seconds with node 24). i opened #1412 to add the prebuild for node 25