build: remove obsolete static-linking workaround

AGENTS.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ The `build.sh` script compiles Node.js from source as a static binary:
 - **Usage:** `./build.sh -n NODE_VERSION`
 - **Example:** `./build.sh -n 20.10.0`
 - **Output:** Extracts to a version-independent `node-src/` directory and creates the compiled Node.js binary there. Building in a stable directory name (rather than `node-v$VERSION/`) lets ccache reuse compiled objects across Node version bumps, since unchanged files no longer get a different cache key just because the version changed.
-- **Configuration:** Uses `--fully-static --enable-static --without-npm --without-intl` flags
+- **Configuration:** Uses `--fully-static --enable-static --without-npm --without-intl` flags. `--without-intl` is also what keeps the static build working without patching generated makefiles; see "Static builds and `--without-intl`" in [README.md](./README.md)
 - **Duration:** Compilation takes 10-30 minutes on a cold cache; a warm ccache (e.g. a patch version bump) can be substantially faster
 
 ## Dockerfile
@@ -72,7 +72,6 @@ Compiles Node.js statically:
 - Downloads Node.js source tarball and checksums
 - Verifies GPG signature
 - Configures with fully-static compilation flags
-- Patches build files to work around static linking issues
 - Compiles with optimal parallelization
 
 ### check-missing-versions.sh

README.md

@@ -76,3 +76,14 @@ docker build -t node-minimal .
 ```
 
 See [AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md) for the full development guide and [SETUP.md](SETUP.md) for local pre-commit hook setup.
+
+## Static builds and `--without-intl`
+
+`build.sh` configures Node with `--fully-static`, which appends `-static` to every link command in the generated makefiles. That includes build-time host tools and shared libraries that only work when linked dynamically, and upstream this remains broken ([nodejs/node#41497](https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/41497); the fix proposed in [nodejs/node#30199](https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/30199) was never merged). The build works today because:
+
+- `--without-intl` sets `v8_enable_i18n_support=0`, which keeps `gen-regexp-special-case` — a V8 host tool that segfaults when linked with `-static` ([nodejs/node#30180](https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/30180)) — out of the default `make` dependency graph, so it is never built or run.
+- Node 18.0.0 removed the `test_crypto_engine` test fixture from the default build ([nodejs/node#41830](https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/41830)). It is a shared library, and `-shared` cannot be combined with `-static` — the linker error in #41497. It is now only built when running the test suite.
+
+This repo previously worked around both by stripping `-static` from those targets' generated makefiles after `./configure`, as suggested in [nodejs/node#41497 (comment)](https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/41497#issuecomment-1013137433). Since Node 18, neither target participates in the default build, so the patch was removed.
+
+If the static build fails again after dropping `--without-intl` — or after a future Node release reintroduces a shared library into the default build — expect a linker error like `crtbeginT.o: relocation ... can not be used when making a shared object` or a `gen-regexp-special-case` crash during `make`. The fix is to re-apply the patch: after `./configure`, strip `-static` from the affected generated makefiles (for example `out/tools/v8_gypfiles/gen-regexp-special-case.target.mk`) before running `make`.

build.sh

@@ -60,9 +60,10 @@ if [[ -d node-src ]]; then
 fi
 mv "node-v$NODE_VERSION/" node-src
 cd node-src/
+# --without-intl keeps V8's gen-regexp-special-case host tool out of the
+# build (it crashes when statically linked), and Node 18+ no longer builds
+# the test_crypto_engine shared library by default. Neither target needs
+# its -static flag stripped anymore. See "Static builds and --without-intl"
+# in README.md before changing these flags.
 ./configure --fully-static --enable-static --without-npm --without-intl
-# See: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/41497#issuecomment-1013137433
-for i in out/tools/v8_gypfiles/gen-regexp-special-case.target.mk out/test_crypto_engine.target.mk; do
-  sed -i.bak 's/-static//g' "$i" || true
-done
 make -j"$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN)" V=0