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Docs for building with an ICU source directory don't work #60947
Description
Version
N/A
Platform
Linux tjc-ThinkPad 6.8.0-86-generic #87-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon Sep 22 18:03:36 UTC 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Subsystem
No response
What steps will reproduce the bug?
- Download a source distribution of ICU into
$HOME/icu - Clone the node repo into
node. cd node && ./configure --with-intl=full-icu --with-icu-source=$HOME/icu
This initially fails to find uvernum.h. After changing the command as follows:
./configure --with-intl=full-icu --with-icu-source=$HOME/icu/icu4c
it fails with:
Node.js configure: Found Python 3.12.3...
Deleting old ICU source: deps/icu
$HOME/icu/icu4c -> deps/icu
ERROR: ICU prebuilt data file deps/icu/source/data/in/icudt77l.dat does not exist.
See the README.md.
If ICU is built with a separate build directory icu/build, then this file is found in icu/build/data/out/tmp/icudt79l.dat. When I copied this file into icu/source/data/in, and re-ran the configure command again, it worked.
The documentation should be updated to reflect these extra steps.
How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?
See above
What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?
See above
What do you see instead?
See above
Additional information
No response
Activity
azadgupta1 commentedon Dec 4, 2025
I would like to work on this issue. The problem seems to be with the outdated
documentation for building Node with a custom ICU source directory.
I’ll update the docs to include:
Node’s configure script to detect it correctly
Let me know if this approach sounds good.
Renegade334 commentedon Dec 4, 2025
Which tarball are you extracting?
If you're definitely extracting the correct icu4c-...-sources archive, then this is an issue with configure.py. The package structure seems to be different to what you're describing, so I wonder if you're working with something different.
cc @nodejs/build
richardlau commentedon Dec 4, 2025
@srl295 Do you know if the directory structure of the upstream ICU tarballs changed since the Node.js documentation was written?
srl295 commentedon Dec 4, 2025
Hi @catamorphism
@richardlau the above structure isn't using a tarball, it's using a download from the ICU repo. It would work if the ICU source .tgz were used
catamorphism commentedon Dec 4, 2025
@Renegade334 I didn't use a tarball, but rather a git checkout of ICU. I see now that the instructions imply you should use an unpacked tarball, but my initial reading of it was that any source directory would work, so maybe there's a bit of clarification that could be done if the docs are meant to only work with a downloaded tarball?
srl295 commentedon Dec 4, 2025
It needs a downloaded tarball because of how it integrates the data. You can make one from an ordinary icu build with
make distif desired. Would be great to improve the docs; they don't say this on a quick perusal.Renegade334 commentedon Dec 4, 2025
The ICU documentation URL and source tarball naming scheme have also changed, if anyone chooses to pick this one up.
srl295 commentedon Dec 4, 2025
Not quite so. But there is a doc addition needed
github-actions commentedon Jul 3, 2026
This issue has been marked as stale due to 210 days of inactivity.
It will be automatically closed in 30 days if no further activity occurs. If this is still relevant, please leave a comment or update it to keep it open.
github-actions commentedon Aug 2, 2026
This issue has been automatically closed after 30 days of inactivity following its stale status (no activity for a total of 120 days).
If this is still relevant, feel free to reopen it or leave a comment with additional details so we can continue the discussion.