Windows users are not happy.

[luisrudge]

It all started with this conversation.

As I said, I'm pretty much a newbie and I don't even know what node-gyp does, but what I DO know is that it's a pain to run Windows and install a project with node-gyp as a dependency.
Some numbers:

• 403 questions on stackoverflow (node-gyp windows)
• 224 issues mentioning "windows"

It's bizarre that a nodejs developer needs to install visual studio (even the express edition) in order to be able to work on Windows. Even more bizarre is that I, as a .NET developer with full visual studio installed in my machine still can't download a bunch of projects that use this project.

With that being said, I'd like to know from all of you what should we do to make windows users fall in the pit of success? What are the alternatives? Does Microsoft can solve this in any way?

This issue is fixed (kinda)

@mousetraps pointed that Microsoft is shipping the C++ build tools separately now. Check here

Some updates on this gigantic thread

Absolutely non-official statement that @microsoft is aware of this issue and seeing what can be done

@mousetraps said that this thread "is high on people's radar" at @microsoft

Very good Q&A about noge-gyp issues on Windows and why they happen

@dekarguy took the time to answer some questions about what we all are going through

[johanalkstal]

+1
Is there some common effort we can do?

The reliance on both Visual Studio (or the Windows SDK) and Python is such a pain. And when it still doesn't work 99.9/100 times anyway, while node-gyp still being so heavily used by the Node community, it's enough to make a grown man cry or give up on using whatever it was that relied on node-gyp.

[daanl]

+1 this a world of pain, took me hours to install a project with node_gyp

[joeeames]

+1 after 8+ hours of trying, still can't use anything that relies on node-gyp.

[GradyD]

👍 after multiple days trying to get this to install I am still fighting VS errors!! It just never gives up.

Atwood's Law: any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript.

[luisrudge]

@TooTallNate any thoughts?

[TooTallNate]

node-gyp v2.0.0 (just released) has an updated gyp version that adds support for MSVS 2015, and should hopefully ease of lot of this pain for Windows users.

[TooTallNate]

Additionally, you guys should probably support my current effort in bringing FFI into node core, thus eliminating node-gyp from the equation for the majority of use-cases.

[luisrudge]

Awesome @TooTallNate. I don't have the skills to understand and support your argument, but I can give you a 👍 haha :(

Congratz on the new release, but I believe we have to wait for everyone to update the dependency version and that maybe never happens.

[b-long]

I'm also struggling with this quite a bit. I'm trying to follow along with this guide (https://github.com/TooTallNate/node-gyp/wiki/Visual-Studio-2010-Setup), but I'm not having much luck.

The guide in the wiki directs us to http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads#d-2010-express, which redirects to https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/download-visual-studio-vs#d-2010-express and that page does not offer VS 2010 for download (it's exclusively 2013).

Even more hilarious / sad, in attempting the uninstall procedures, I somehow wound up with "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1" listed in my Programs and Features (Uninstall menu), but when I click "Uninstall/Change", I'm given an error after a while that says "A compatible version of Visual Studio 2010 was not detected on the system. This update is designed for only the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010."

[luisrudge]

Yeah. There needs to be a better way

[b-long]

@TooTallNate I'm pretty sure you're doing the best work there is for Node support on Windows 👍 :) Could I make a request that we update the wiki page (or add a new wiki page) describing the steps for VS 2015 ?

[luisrudge]

FYI: npm i c3 still fails. Even with vs2015 installed. @TooTallNate any ideas?

[luisrudge]

c:\git\rr\MyProject\src (master)
? npm i -S c3
npm WARN package.json package@0.0.0 No description
npm WARN package.json package@0.0.0 No repository field.
npm WARN package.json package@0.0.0 No README data
npm WARN package.json package@0.0.0 No license field.
-


> contextify@0.1.14 install c:\git\rr\MyProject\src\node_modules\c3\node_modules\d3\node_modules\jsdom\node_modules\contextify
> node-gyp rebuild

\
c:\git\rr\MyProject\src\node_modules\c3\node_modules\d3\node_modules\jsdom\node_modules\contextify {git}
{lamb} if not defined npm_config_node_gyp (node "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\node-gyp-bin\\..\..\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js" rebuild )  else (rebuild)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\gyp\gyp_main.py", line 18, in <module>
    sys.exit(gyp.script_main())
  File "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\gyp\pylib\gyp\__init__.py", line 534, in script_main
    return main(sys.argv[1:])
  File "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\gyp\pylib\gyp\__init__.py", line 527, in main
    return gyp_main(args)
  File "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\gyp\pylib\gyp\__init__.py", line 503, in gyp_main
    options.circular_check)
  File "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\gyp\pylib\gyp\__init__.py", line 98, in Load
    generator.CalculateVariables(default_variables, params)
  File "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\gyp\pylib\gyp\generator\msvs.py", line 1867, in CalculateVariables
    generator_flags.get('msvs_version', 'auto'))
  File "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\gyp\pylib\gyp\MSVSVersion.py", line 402, in SelectVisualStudioVersion
    versions = _DetectVisualStudioVersions(version_map[version], 'e' in version)
KeyError: '2015'
gyp ERR! configure error
gyp ERR! stack Error: `gyp` failed with exit code: 1
gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.onCpExit (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\configure.js:343:16)
gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:110:17)
gyp ERR! stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (child_process.js:1074:12)
gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 6.3.9600
gyp ERR! command "node" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
cwd c:\git\rr\MyProject\src\node_modules\c3\node_modules\d3\node_modules\jsdom\node_modules\contextify
gyp ERR! node -v v0.12.4
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v1.0.3
gyp ERR! not ok
npm ERR! Windows_NT 6.3.9600
npm ERR! argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "i" "-S" "c3"
npm ERR! node v0.12.4
npm ERR! npm  v2.10.1
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE

npm ERR! contextify@0.1.14 install: `node-gyp rebuild`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the contextify@0.1.14 install script 'node-gyp rebuild'.
npm ERR! This is most likely a problem with the contextify package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     node-gyp rebuild
npm ERR! You can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls contextify
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR!     c:\git\rr\MyProject\src\npm-debug.log

[b-long]

I just found out about the environment variable (GYP_MSVS_VERSION ) option here: #339 (comment) , it might help @luisrudge or others. Any other updated happy paths for Windows users? /cc @TooTallNate @isaacs