Got a multiplatform library where resources need t...

# javascript

[Matt Nelson]

Got a multiplatform library where resources need to be extracted to the local file system at runtime (executable that will be run in its own process). Trying to add support for JS (node only), but have no clue how to retrieve them from jsMain in order to uncompress and persist to FS. Resources in question are in src/jsMain/resources directory.

With java you'd just call

javaClass.getResourcesAsStream("/path/myresource.txt.gz")

1. Is there a similar way to java's for accessing them at runtime?
2. The files should not be served as content, would there be a better way to distribute them then as resources?

[Big Chungus]

Node has no built-in way of distributing resources. Common practice is to simply store them in the same folder and retrieve them via regular fs

[Big Chungus]

What you could try though is making a self-extracting archive (only works on unix shells) that has some bash initialisation code prepended to the archive containing your js files and resources.

[Big Chungus]

Here's the strategy outlined for jars, but can be adopted to extract and run embedded archive as well https://coderwall.com/p/ssuaxa/how-to-make-a-jar-file-linux-executable

[Big Chungus]

Although the linked article inside looks to be exactly what you need https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/add-binary-payload-your-shell-scripts

[Matt Nelson]

Hmmm... bummer. Won't be able to support windows that way.

Does node have the concept of plugins (like gradle), where I can create a plugin and they can configure it and it'll download the necessary files, uncompress them, and then install on the FS?

[Big Chungus]

Node doesn't, but yarn 2 does

[Big Chungus]

Webpack also support plugins

[Big Chungus]

Another way you could go about it is a good old install script that would download and setup all required files

[Big Chungus]

i.e. curl https://github.com/my/repo/install.sh | bash

[Big Chungus]

As for Windows support with install scripts, you still have options. Have a look at how sdkman handles it https://sdkman.io/install

[Matt Nelson]

I wonder if I could just create a gradle plugin where it'll extract the files to the project's build directory...

[Big Chungus]

That works too, but it still requires the end user to have extra tooling installed

[Big Chungus]

Hold on. Why don't you have your node app handle fetching and caching of resources?

[Big Chungus]

On each resource access check for its existence on fs and if it's not present yet, download it and store it for future use.

[Big Chungus]

That way your end user only needs node to install and run the app. Plus you get an added bonus of single binary distribution

[Matt Nelson]

Hmm 🤔

[Matt Nelson]

yeah I don't want to pigeonhole myself here b/c I'd like to distribute the lib via npm, as well as a klib...

[Big Chungus]

By the way, how did you initially imagine the "installation"? npm install?

[Big Chungus]

Ah! That makes things a lot easier! 😀

[Big Chungus]

Have a look at #npm-publish for publishing

[Matt Nelson]

Well, here's the project:

Wrapper for Tor: https://github.com/05nelsonm/kmp-tor
Binary distribution: https://github.com/05nelsonm/kmp-tor-binary

[Matt Nelson]

Have a look at #npm-publish for publishing

Definitely, thanks!

[Big Chungus]

Klib distribution goes through regular maven-publish, but it will not distribute your resources for js target...

[Matt Nelson]

Klib distribution goes through regular maven-publish, but it will not distribute your resources for js target...

Yeah, so a gradle plugin will definitely be needed

Actually, could I distribute the binary files via npm and then add them as a dependency to the kmp-tor wrapper project???? 🤔

[Big Chungus]

Then to get to your package resources after installation use this https://stackoverflow.com/a/10121471/10938638

[Big Chungus]

Re: kmp-tor
Yes, that's how people are going around this kjs limitation. e.g. https://github.com/rjaros/kvision/tree/master/kvision-assets

[Big Chungus]

Not required if you only target npm, but a must for maven distribution

[Matt Nelson]

So:
• Publish kmp-tor-binary assets to npm
• kmp-tor library consumer would also add npm dependency for assets (whatever platform/architecture they wish to support)

[Big Chungus]

Not quite. You can add kmp-tor-binary as an npm dependency in kmp-tor gradle dependencies for js target. That way it will get automatically downloaded when installing kmp-tor via npm

[Big Chungus]

Have a look at how kvision-assets are used in kvision framework

[Matt Nelson]

Yeah, checking it out now

[Matt Nelson]

Was able to play around with this finally via a dummy project to publish the files to npm. Everything seems to be working in terms of obtaining the path to the file (see pic). Now to uncompress and extract to specified location.

Thanks for your help!