# Maintaining the Build files This document explains how to maintain the build files in the codebase. ## Overview On how to build the Node.js core, see [Building Node.js](../../BUILDING.md). There are three main build files that may be directly run when building Node.js: - `configure`: A Python 2 script that detects system capabilities and runs [GYP][]. It generates `config.gypi` which includes parameters used by GYP to create platform-dependent build files. Its output is usually in one of these formats: Makefile, MSbuild, ninja, or XCode project files (the main Makefile mentioned below is maintained separately by humans). For a detailed guide on this script, see [configure](#configure). - `vcbuild.bat`: A Windows Batch Script that locates build tools, provides a subset of the targets available in the [Makefile](#makefile), and a few targets of its own. For a detailed guide on this script, see [vcbuild.bat](#vcbuildbat). - `Makefile`: A Makefile that can be run with GNU Make. It provides a set of targets that build and test the Node.js binary, produce releases and documentation, and interact with the CI to run benchmarks or tests. For a detailed guide on this file, see [Makefile](#makefile). On Windows `vcbuild.bat` runs [configure](#configure) before building the Node.js binary, on other systems `configure` must be run manually before running `make` on the `Makefile`. ## vcbuild.bat To see the help text, run `.\vcbuild help`. Update this file when you need to update the build and testing process on Windows. ## configure To see the help text, run `python configure --help`. Update this file when you need to update the configuration process. ## Makefile To see the help text, run `make help`. This file is not generated, it is maintained by humans. Note that this is not usually run on Windows, where [vcbuild.bat](#vcbuildbat) is used instead. ### Options - `-j <n>`: number of threads used to build the binary. Note that on the non-ci targets, the parallel tests will take up all the available cores, regardless of this option. [GYP]: https://gyp.gsrc.io/docs/UserDocumentation.md