N-API Support for node-sqlite3

[sampsongao]

The recently announced Node 8 has a new experimental feature called N-API which is aimed at reducing maintenance cost for node native addons. Checkout this blog for more details on its benefits.

Module node-sqlite3 is one of the top 30 native modules by dependency count, and in order to help the Node.js community make the important transition to N-API, we are hoping you will be able to work with us in order to port node-sqlite3 to support N-API. Your support and feedback is important in making this effort a success.

I am part of the N-API working group and and would like to talk to you about how you can can get started with N-API and what help we might be able to provide. I'm available to talk on the phone individually if you'd like. Alternatively, if you prefer, feel free to jump in our WG meeting which happens every Thursday at 1.30 Eastern / 10.30 Pacific US time, to discuss any issues.

Here’s a video of N-API in action

[springmeyer]

Hello @sampsongao - this is great - thank you for your efforts on N-API. Yes, I would like to support N-API in node-sqlite3. I see you've created ttps://github.com/mhdawson/node-sqlite3/tree/v3.1.4-abi to test the N-API port. How did it go? Was there any performance impact?

[sampsongao]

The v3.1.4-abi is the port directly using N-API. But since the N-API is quite verbose, so we also developed C++ helpers to make it simpler to port. I am currently working on porting node-sqlite3 to helpers. And there are some problems I still need to address. Feel free to take a look at the v3.1.4-napi-wrapper branch.

[springmeyer]

Thanks for the details @sampsongao. Are there any examples of ports of very simple modules you could share as well? For reference our team is planning to work on porting our simple example node module: mapbox/node-cpp-skel#45

[sampsongao]

You can take the node-nanomsg port as reference. If you want to take something a little more complex, you can checkout the node-canvas port. Also, take a look on the node-addon-api. That is the wrapper I was talking about.

[aruneshchandra]

@springmeyer - you can tryout the N-API yeoman generator to get started with this https://github.com/digitalinfinity/generator-napi-module.

[sampsongao]

@springmeyer How is your experience using N-API is like? We would like to hear your feedback and the obstacle you faced during your migration.

[springmeyer]

@sampsongao - thank you for the ping. I've not had a chance yet to experiment with the N-API but I will let you know as soon as I do.

[sampsongao]

Hi @springmeyer , any update on your experiment?

[springmeyer]

@sampsongao @aruneshchandra - do you have a branch of latest node-sqlite3 that is working against latest node-addon-api that I can take a look at to learn more?

[sampsongao]

@springmeyer You can find it here. https://github.com/mhdawson/node-sqlite3/tree/node-addon-api
Commands for building and testing should be the same as before.

[springmeyer]

@sampsongao - thanks, however I hit these errors trying to build that branch: https://gist.github.com/springmeyer/f767c07b662c200121a0296b2fe36a08. Is it working for you? What node version are you testing with? I tried with node v8.9.3 on OS X 10.12

[springmeyer]

@sampsongao any idea about the above errors?

[springmeyer]

@sampsongao bump

[sampsongao]

I am using node master now which is node 10 pre. However, I can't reproduce the problem on my machine and it seems to be node-addon-api related. Can you make sure you are using node-addon-api@1.10.