A Node.js tool for configuring Windows PKG package generated exe file icons and detailed information. This project is a fork of AngaBlue/exe version 2.0, with updates and improvements.

🏠 Homepage

⚠️ Breaking Changes from 1.X

This version introduces several breaking changes compared to the 1.X series:

1. Repository: New repository at https://github.com/PromiseAll/pkg-exe-build
2. PKG Dependency: Updated to use @yao-pkg/pkg instead of the original pkg package
3. Build System: Now uses tsup for building instead of the previous build system
4. Module System: Full ES Module support with both ESM and CommonJS exports
5. CLI Command: The package now provides a short CLI command alias pkge for easier usage

Install

Install this package and save to devDependencies using your package manager of choice.

npm i -D pkg-exe-build

Command Line Usage

You can also use the command line interface to build executables. The package provides a short CLI command alias pkge for convenience:

npx pkge -e ./index.js -o ./build/My Cool App.exe

Command Line Options

| Option | Description | Required | Default Value | Example Value | | ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------- | | -e, --entry | Path to the entry file of the application. | Yes | N/A | ./index.js | | -o, --out | Path for the output executable file. | Yes | N/A | ./build/My Cool App.exe | | -p, --pkg | Extra arguments for the pkg package. | No | [] | -C GZip | | -t, --target | Target node version and architecture. | No | latest-win-x64 | latest-win-x64 | | --app-version | Version of the application. | No | None | 2.4.2 | | -i, --icon | Path to the application's icon in .ico format. | No | Node.js icon | ./assets/icon.ico | | -l, --execution-level | Execution level for the application. | No | asInvoker | asInvoker | | --properties | Metadata for the executable file (JSON format). | No | None | '{"FileDescription":"My Cool App"}' |

Command Line Examples

Basic usage:

npx pkge -e ./index.js -o ./build/My Cool App.exe

Full parameters:

npx pkge \
  -e ./index.js \
  -o ./build/My Cool App.exe \
  -p -C GZip \
  -t latest-win-x64 \
  --app-version 2.4.2 \
  -i ./assets/icon.ico \
  -l asInvoker \
  --properties '{"FileDescription":"My Cool App","ProductName":"My Cool App","LegalCopyright":"PromiseAll https://github.com/PromiseAll","OriginalFilename":"My Cool App.exe"}'

Basic Usage

// build.js
import pkgBuild from "pkg-exe-build";

const build = pkgBuild({
  entry: "./index.js",
  out: "./build/My Cool App.exe",
});

build.then(() => console.log("Build completed!"));

Or using CommonJS:

// build.js
const pkgBuild = require("pkg-exe-build");

const build = pkgBuild({
  entry: "./index.js",
  out: "./build/My Cool App.exe",
});

build.then(() => console.log("Build completed!"));

Example Usage

Specify more arguments and completely customize the resultant executable.

// build.js
import pkgBuild from "pkg-exe-build";

const build = pkgBuild({
  entry: "./index.js",
  out: "./build/My Cool App.exe",
  pkg: ["-C", "GZip"], // Specify extra pkg arguments
  version: "2.4.2",
  target: "latest-win-x64",
  icon: "./assets/icon.ico", // Application icons must be in .ico format
  executionLevel: "asInvoker",
  properties: {
    FileDescription: "My Cool App",
    ProductName: "My Cool App",
    LegalCopyright: "PromiseAll https://github.com/PromiseAll",
    OriginalFilename: "My Cool App.exe",
  },
});

build.then(() => console.log("Build completed!"));

Configuration Options

| Option | Description | Required | Default Value | Example Value | Possible Values | | ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | entry | Path to the entry file of the application. | Yes | N/A | './index.js' | Any valid file path. | | out | Path for the output executable file. | Yes | N/A | './build/My Cool App.exe' | Any valid file path. | | pkg | Extra arguments for the pkg package. | No | [] | ['-C', 'GZip'] | Array of pkg arguments. | | version | Version of the application. | No | None | '2.4.2' | Semantic version string. e.g. major.minor.patch | | target | Target node version and architecture. | No | 'latest-win-x64' | 'latest-win-x64' | Windows pkg target string. e.g. latest-win-x64, node18-windows-x64, etc. | | icon | Path to the application's icon in .ico format. | No | Node.js icon | './assets/icon.ico' | Any valid .ico file path. | | executionLevel | Execution level for the application. | No | 'asInvoker' | 'asInvoker' | asInvoker, highestAvailable, requireAdministrator | | properties | Metadata for the executable file. | No | None | { FileDescription: 'My Cool App', ... } | Key-value pairs as shown in example. |

Note on properties:

• FileDescription: Description of the executable.
• ProductName: Name of the product.
• LegalCopyright: Copyright details with the URL.
• OriginalFilename: Name of the original file.

Development

To build the project:

npm run build

To run tests:

npm test

To run CLI tests:

npm run test:cli

Show your support

Give a ⭐️ if this project helped you!

📝 License

Copyright © PromiseAll. This project is LGPL-3.0-or-later licensed.

Acknowledgments

This project is based on AngaBlue/exe version 2.0.