coc extension contains C code cannot be build when CocInstall

[Freed-Wu]

For a nodejs project containing *.gyp and *.c, npm pack and npm install will build *.c by node-gyp. However, CocInstall will not build *.c. Why?

Referred example

[fannheyward]

If there is a binding.gyp file in the root of your package and you haven't defined your own install or preinstall scripts, npm will default the install command to compile using node-gyp via node-gyp rebuild
https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v10/using-npm/scripts#npm-install

npm install runs node-gyp rebuild automatically in project that contains native add-ons binding.gyp

CocInstall steps:

1. download and extract extension tar file from https://registry.npmjs.org to extensions folder ~/.config/coc/extensions/node_modules, with an uniq temp folder
2. the extension contains bundled lib/index.js file, maybe with some dependencies
3. npm install --ignore-scripts --no-lockfile --omit=dev --legacy-peer-deps --no-global to install the dependencies
4. the --ignore-scripts ignores all scripts, includes postinstall, won't trigger node-gyp rebuild to build native add-ons

[Freed-Wu]

Interesting. If a coc extension depends on a package which have a binding.gyp, this dependency will not be build, too, Right?

Oh, I means CocInstall a coc extension depending on a package containing binding.gyp. Will it be built?

[fannheyward]

Haven't do a test for this case, I think the dependency probably not be built.

[Freed-Wu]

Another method: run exec('npm rebuild') in Coc extension: https://github.com/tonyfettes/coc-rime/blob/master/src/config.ts#L56

and tell user how to install dependencies in README.md https://github.com/tonyfettes/coc-rime#dependencies

[Freed-Wu]

Perhaps https://github.com/prebuild/prebuildify can be helpful.

[Freed-Wu]

Related PR: #5002