bettersqlite binaries

The native node bindings#

better-sqlite3 has native Node bindings. With updates of better-sqlite3, but also of Electron and Node.js versions, these bindings need to be updated.

Note that Electron and Node.js versions need different versions of these bindings, since Electron usually packs a different version of Node.js.

During development, pnpm install tries to build or reuse prebuilt natives for the current Node.js version. This makes npm run start-server work out of the box. Trying to run npm run start-electron with these versions generally causes an error such as this:

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`).

How the natives are handled#

To avoid issues between the server and the desktop, the desktop build gets its own copy of the bettersqlite3 dependency in its node_module. This copy is then rebuilt automatically to match the Electron version.

This process of rebuilding is handled by scripts/electron-rebuild.mts which runs automatically after pnpm install (via postinstall).

If needed, the script can be run manually again via pnpm postinstall.