node-datachannel Prebuilt Binaries Missing RTTI and Wrong Architecture

[akhileshthite]

We are using Electron with @libp2p/[email protected] which depends on [email protected]. We encountered two major issues:

1. Linux:
   The native module fails with an undefined RTTI symbol error:

Error: /tmp/.org.chromium.Chromium.XXXX: undefined symbol: _ZTVN10__cxxabiv117__class_type_infoE

This appears to be due to the binary being built with RTTI disabled (likely via -fno-rtti).

2. macOS (Intel):
   When running the app on an Intel Mac, we see:

mach-o file, but is an incompatible architecture (have 'arm64', need 'x86_64')

This indicates that the prebuilt binary is compiled for arm64 instead of x86_64.

Workaround

We were able to work around these issues locally by:

• Patching node-datachannel:
  We modified the build configuration (in cmake/toolchain/ci.cmake) to ensure that the C++ compiler flags include -frtti (enabling RTTI).

set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} $ENV{COMPILER_FLAGS} -frtti")

https://github.com/ipshipyard/js-node-datachannel/blob/844e1dd9e5467b3fe5d85af23c29751371192d67/cmake/toolchain/ci.cmake#L23

• Forcing a Rebuild from Source:
  We ran:

npm rebuild node-datachannel --build-from-source

This resulted in a freshly built node_datachannel.node with the correct RTTI support.

Why it's important?

The current approach to work around these problems involves manually patching node-datachannel’s build configuration and explicitly rebuilding the module from source (e.g., using npm rebuild node-datachannel --build-from-source and setting npm_config_arch=x64 on Intel Macs). This process requires custom CI scripts and local workarounds, which is not ideal. Ideally, the prebuilt binaries should be compiled correctly for Electron:

RTTI Enabled: Ensuring that the module is built with RTTI support (i.e. without -fno-rtti).

We observed the same issues when testing with latest @ipshipyard/node-datachannel version ^0.26.4 and @libp2p/webrtc version ^5.1.0.

PR:
p2plabsxyz/peersky-browser#18

[murat-dogan]

Hello @akhileshthite,

Thank you for the detailed description.

I remember this error. And it should already be solved in newer versions. Could you please try the new version?
And may I ask why you are using the old version?
#279

I will say we are not using this flag -fno-rtti, and it doesn't seem to be a default value.
Sİnce the problem is solved with a flag, it is mysterious.

We can add the flag (which I think is there by default).
But could you please first try the newer version?

[akhileshthite]

Hello @akhileshthite,

Thank you for the detailed description.

I remember this error. And it should already be solved in newer versions. Could you please try the new version? And may I ask why you are using the old version? #279

I will say we are not using this flag -fno-rtti, and it doesn't seem to be a default value. Sİnce the problem is solved with a flag, it is mysterious.

We can add the flag (which I think is there by default). But could you please first try the newer version?

Hey @murat-dogan,
Yes, getting same error; I tried @libp2p/[email protected] which is using @ipshipyard/node-datachannel latest version ^0.26.5.

Error:

cc @achingbrain

[murat-dogan]

Thanks for the info.

I added and created a PR.
Could you please also check that is OK for you?

Thanks.

[akhileshthite]

Thanks for the info.

I added and created a PR. Could you please also check that is OK for you?

Thanks.

Thanks!
I’ll apply this as a patch and test it.

[akhileshthite]

Thanks for the info.
I added and created a PR. Could you please also check that is OK for you?
Thanks.

Thanks! I’ll apply this as a patch and test it.

I tested the CMakeLists.txt patch with https://github.com/ipshipyard/js-node-datachannel node module; left some comments here #343

[achingbrain]

@akhileshthite I think you may have your PR comments still in draft, I don't think there's anything from you on #343

[akhileshthite]

@akhileshthite I think you may have your PR comments still in draft, I don't think there's anything from you on #343

Sorry, forgot to submit the review.

[murat-dogan]

I am a little bit lost here.
The error was:
Error: /tmp/.org.chromium.Chromium.XXXX: undefined symbol: _ZTVN10__cxxabiv117__class_type_infoE

And you said you can solve it with --frtti compiler flag.
The PR adds also this flag; it should resolve it.

The wrong arch is another story.

[akhileshthite]

I am a little bit lost here. The error was: Error: /tmp/.org.chromium.Chromium.XXXX: undefined symbol: _ZTVN10__cxxabiv117__class_type_infoE

And you said you can solve it with --frtti compiler flag. The PR adds also this flag; it should resolve it.

The wrong arch is another story.

Yes, I will look into that arch issue and resolve it. Let's merge the PR.
Thank you for all your efforts!

[murat-dogan]

Hello,
here is the last version
https://github.com/murat-dogan/node-datachannel/releases/tag/v0.27.0