explore packaging options

[cztomsik]

We could probably use some combination of these:

• https://github.com/zeit/ncc
• https://github.com/zeit/pkg
• https://github.com/nexe/nexe
• it seems that electron-builder could be used too, maybe at least app-builder which electron-build is using

Some other related tools:

• https://github.com/yue/yackage
• https://github.com/mischnic/proton-packager
• https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-packager
• https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-forge

It has to be tested and then documented.

We obviously want to support mac too but if there is a shorter way (ncc + pkg might be a one but I'm not sure) for linux/windows we should mention it too because not everybody needs to support mac.

[styfle]

Also checkout this list: https://github.com/styfle/awesome-desktop-js/blob/master/README.md#packaging

[cztomsik]

@styfle thx, BTW what is your opinion? do you have any experience/opinions with these tools?

[styfle]

I've used electron builder but never quite got it to work properly with magnemite.

The ncc tool is a little different than the others because it does not create a native binary. It's really more like a bundler such as browserify or webpack.

I would start with pkg since that was used in production for all zeit deployments for at least a year and seems to have a lot of mindshare around it.

[cztomsik]

ncc + pkg could work but it needs native extensions in the same directory, so it's not straightforward enough for beginners.

From this perspective, electron-builder might be a better option https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/master/docs/tutorial/using-native-node-modules.md

[cztomsik]

closed by #59
http://tomsik.cz/node-webrender/docs/packaging.html