Consider using prebuildify

[charsleysa]

Please consider switching to using prebuildify and shipping the prebuilt binaries with the npm package so that it can be used in environments that don't/can't execute postinstall scripts.

This would open up support for environments like deno, and it's also the recommended configuration given by prebuild-install/prebuildify (see https://github.com/prebuild/prebuild-install#note).

[lovell]

Hi, please see #2741 (comment) for why prebuildify is probably the wrong solution (I'm one of the prebuild maintainers).

I'm hoping cross-package-manager support for distributions in package.json, a possible outcome of npm/rfcs#519, will be a much better solution.

[charsleysa]

Would you consider using prebuildify just for shipping the .node files while keeping the libvips files still separate?
If I understand correctly, this should allow sharp to work by using a globally installed libvips without needing to run any npm install scripts as the missing component is the .node file.

[lovell]

A globally-installed libvips necessitates the compilation of sharp from source.

https://sharp.pixelplumbing.com/install#building-from-source

You mentioned Deno - see denoland/deno#16164 for proposed opt-in install script support, a sensible compromise until distributions becomes a thing.

[lovell]

I hope this information helped. Please feel free to re-open with more details if further assistance is required.