<h3>The native node bindings</h3><p><code>better-sqlite3</code> has native Node bindings. With updates of <code>better-sqlite3</code>, but also of Electron and Node.js versions, these bindings need to be updated.</p><p>Note that Electron and Node.js versions need different versions of these bindings, since Electron usually packs a different version of Node.js.</p><p>During development, <code>npm install</code> tries to build or reuse prebuilt natives for the current Node.js version. This makes <code>npm run start-server</code> work out of the box. Trying to run <code>npm run start-electron</code> with these versions generally causes an error such as this:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">Uncaught Exception:
<h3>The native node bindings</h3><p><code>better-sqlite3</code> has native Node bindings. With updates of <code>better-sqlite3</code>, but also of Electron and Node.js versions, these bindings need to be updated.</p><p>Note that Electron and Node.js versions need different versions of these bindings, since Electron usually packs a different version of Node.js.</p><p>During development, <code>npm install</code> tries to build or reuse prebuilt natives for the current Node.js version. This makes <code>npm run server:start</code> work out of the box. Trying to run <code>npm run start-electron</code> with these versions generally causes an error such as this:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">Uncaught Exception:
Error: The module '/Users/elian/Projects/Notes/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Release/better_sqlite3.node'
was compiled against a different Node.js version using
NODE_MODULE_VERSION 108. This version of Node.js requires
NODE_MODULE_VERSION 116. Please try re-compiling or re-installing
the module (for instance, using `npm rebuild` or `npm install`).</code></pre><h3>How the natives are handled</h3><p>Locally, this can be fixed by rebuilding the binaries, which is what <code>npm run switch-electron</code> does, which uses <code>electron-rebuild</code> under the hood.</p><p>When the deliveries are built (see <aclass="reference-link type-text"href="UTB518X6X9Uh.html">Build deliveries locally</a>), it is not feasible to rebuild the dependencies since we are building for multiple platforms. Luckily, <code>better-sqlite3</code> provides these prebuilt binaries from us, available as artifacts on <ahref="https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/releases/">their GitHub releases page</a>. </p><p>The build script manages the natives for <code>better-sqlite3</code> by keeping a copy of the <code>.node</code> file for every platform in <code>bin/better-sqlite3</code>.</p><p>Whenever the version of <code>better-sqlite3</code> changes, the <code>.node</code> files must also be renewed based on their releases page. To simplify this process, a script was created in <code>bin/better-sqlite3/update.sh</code>.</p><h2>How to update the natives</h2><p>The update script needs to know the version of Electron or Node.js for which to download the prebuilt binaries.</p><p>If you get errors during download, check on the <ahref="https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/releases/">releases page</a> to ensure that this particular combination of Electron/Node actually exists for the given release.</p><p>To determine the <code>NODE_MODULE_VERSION</code> that is required, look for <code>This version of Node.js requires</code><br><code>NODE_MODULE_VERSION</code> in the error when starting Trilium via:</p><ul><li><code>npm run start-electron</code> (or run any Electron <ahref="UTB518X6X9Uh.html"class="type-text">delivery</a>), case in which the <spanstyle="color:#c0bfbc;"><code>ELECTRON_VERSION</code> variable needs to be changed.</span></li><li><spanstyle="color:#c0bfbc;"><code>npm run start-server</code></span> (or run the Linux server delivery), case in which the <code>NODE_VERSION</code> variable needs to be changed.</li></ul><p>Check which files got changed after running the update script and for each platform that got changed, test it locally via <aclass="reference-link type-text"href="UTB518X6X9Uh.html">Build deliveries locally</a> or via the CI.</p>
the module (for instance, using `npm rebuild` or `npm install`).</code></pre><h3>How the natives are handled</h3><p>Locally, this can be fixed by rebuilding the binaries, which is what <code>npm run switch-electron</code> does, which uses <code>electron-rebuild</code> under the hood.</p><p>When the deliveries are built (see <aclass="reference-link type-text"href="UTB518X6X9Uh.html">Build deliveries locally</a>), it is not feasible to rebuild the dependencies since we are building for multiple platforms. Luckily, <code>better-sqlite3</code> provides these prebuilt binaries from us, available as artifacts on <ahref="https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/releases/">their GitHub releases page</a>. </p><p>The build script manages the natives for <code>better-sqlite3</code> by keeping a copy of the <code>.node</code> file for every platform in <code>bin/better-sqlite3</code>.</p><p>Whenever the version of <code>better-sqlite3</code> changes, the <code>.node</code> files must also be renewed based on their releases page. To simplify this process, a script was created in <code>bin/better-sqlite3/update.sh</code>.</p><h2>How to update the natives</h2><p>The update script needs to know the version of Electron or Node.js for which to download the prebuilt binaries.</p><p>If you get errors during download, check on the <ahref="https://github.com/WiseLibs/better-sqlite3/releases/">releases page</a> to ensure that this particular combination of Electron/Node actually exists for the given release.</p><p>To determine the <code>NODE_MODULE_VERSION</code> that is required, look for <code>This version of Node.js requires</code><br><code>NODE_MODULE_VERSION</code> in the error when starting Trilium via:</p><ul><li><code>npm run start-electron</code> (or run any Electron <ahref="UTB518X6X9Uh.html"class="type-text">delivery</a>), case in which the <spanstyle="color:#c0bfbc;"><code>ELECTRON_VERSION</code> variable needs to be changed.</span></li><li><spanstyle="color:#c0bfbc;"><code>npm run server:start</code></span> (or run the Linux server delivery), case in which the <code>NODE_VERSION</code> variable needs to be changed.</li></ul><p>Check which files got changed after running the update script and for each platform that got changed, test it locally via <aclass="reference-link type-text"href="UTB518X6X9Uh.html">Build deliveries locally</a> or via the CI.</p>
<h2>Server live reload</h2><p>If running the server using <code>npm run start-server</code>, the server will watch for changes in <code>src/public</code> and trigger a frontend reload if that occurs.</p><h2>Electron live reload</h2><p>Similarly, <code>npm run start-electron</code> supports live refresh as well.</p><p>However, a core difference is that Electron watches <code>dist/src/public</code> instead of <code>src/public</code> since Electron runs on its own copy of the files.</p><p>To ameliorate that, a separate watch script has been implemented which automatically copies files from <code>src/public</code> to <code>dist/src/public</code> whenever a change is detected. To run it:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run </code></pre><h2>Technical details</h2><ul><li>This mechanism is managed at server level by watching for changes in<code>services/ws.ts</code>.</li></ul>
<h2>Server live reload</h2><p>If running the server using <code>npm run server:start</code>, the server will watch for changes in <code>src/public</code> and trigger a frontend reload if that occurs.</p><h2>Electron live reload</h2><p>Similarly, <code>npm run start-electron</code> supports live refresh as well.</p><p>However, a core difference is that Electron watches <code>dist/src/public</code> instead of <code>src/public</code> since Electron runs on its own copy of the files.</p><p>To ameliorate that, a separate watch script has been implemented which automatically copies files from <code>src/public</code> to <code>dist/src/public</code> whenever a change is detected. To run it:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run </code></pre><h2>Technical details</h2><ul><li>This mechanism is managed at server level by watching for changes in<code>services/ws.ts</code>.</li></ul>
<aid="server"class="tsd-anchor"></a><h3class="tsd-anchor-link">Server<ahref="#server"aria-label="Permalink"class="tsd-anchor-icon"><svgviewBox="0 0 24 24"><usehref="assets/icons.svg#icon-anchor"></use></svg></a></h3><p>To install TriliumNext on your own server (including via Docker from <ahref="https://hub.docker.com/r/triliumnext/notes"target="_blank"class="external">Dockerhub</a>) follow <ahref="https://triliumnext.github.io/Docs/Wiki/server-installation"target="_blank"class="external">the server installation docs</a>.</p>
<aid="📝-documentation"class="tsd-anchor"></a><h2class="tsd-anchor-link">📝 Documentation<ahref="#📝-documentation"aria-label="Permalink"class="tsd-anchor-icon"><svgviewBox="0 0 24 24"><usehref="assets/icons.svg#icon-anchor"></use></svg></a></h2><p><ahref="https://triliumnext.github.io/Docs"target="_blank"class="external">See wiki for complete list of documentation pages.</a></p>
<p>You can also read <ahref="https://triliumnext.github.io/Docs/Wiki/patterns-of-personal-knowledge"target="_blank"class="external">Patterns of personal knowledge base</a> to get some inspiration on how you might use TriliumNext.</p>
<aid="documentation"class="tsd-anchor"></a><h3class="tsd-anchor-link">Documentation<ahref="#documentation"aria-label="Permalink"class="tsd-anchor-icon"><svgviewBox="0 0 24 24"><usehref="assets/icons.svg#icon-anchor"></use></svg></a></h3><p>Head on over to our <ahref="https://github.com/TriliumNext/Docs"target="_blank"class="external">Docs repo</a></p>
<h3>Run server</h3><p>Run with default settings:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run start-server</code></pre><p>Run with custom port:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">TRILIUM_PORT=8082 npm run start-server</code></pre><h3>Run Electron</h3><p>Rebuild <code>better-sqlite3</code> dependency:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run switch-electron</code></pre><p>Then run Electron:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run start-electron</code></pre><p>To run Electron using the same data directory as the production version:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run start-electron-no-dir</code></pre><p>When done, switch back the <code>better-sqlite3</code> dependency:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run switch-server</code></pre>
<h3>Run server</h3><p>Run with default settings:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run server:start</code></pre><p>Run with custom port:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">TRILIUM_PORT=8082 npm run server:start</code></pre><h3>Run Electron</h3><p>Rebuild <code>better-sqlite3</code> dependency:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run switch-electron</code></pre><p>Then run Electron:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run start-electron</code></pre><p>To run Electron using the same data directory as the production version:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run start-electron-no-dir</code></pre><p>When done, switch back the <code>better-sqlite3</code> dependency:</p><pre><codeclass="language-text-plain">npm run switch-server</code></pre>
Panagiotis Papadopoulos