From 7fdea613ff932e06f79df86b49d1e9c78f0ab675 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Elian Doran <contact@eliandoran.me>
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2025 11:50:53 +0300
Subject: [PATCH] feat(dx/desktop): perfect way to override bettersqlite native

---
 apps/desktop/scripts/rebuild.mts |  7 ++-----
 apps/desktop/scripts/start.mts   |  3 ++-
 apps/server/src/services/sql.ts  | 13 ++++++++++---
 apps/server/src/share/sql.ts     |  5 ++++-
 package.json                     |  1 +
 5 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/apps/desktop/scripts/rebuild.mts b/apps/desktop/scripts/rebuild.mts
index 8f05c9db5..a37c72075 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/scripts/rebuild.mts
+++ b/apps/desktop/scripts/rebuild.mts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ const workspaceRoot = join(desktopProjectRoot, "../..");
 
 function copyNativeDependencies() {
     const destPath = join(desktopProjectRoot, "node_modules/better-sqlite3");
-
+    
     if (existsSync(destPath)) {
         rmSync(destPath, { recursive: true });
     }
@@ -30,10 +30,7 @@ function rebuildNativeDependencies() {
     rebuild({
         projectRootPath: desktopProjectRoot,
         buildPath: desktopProjectRoot,
-        // on NixOS the prebuilt native fails with "Error: libstdc++.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory" so we need to build from source.
-        force: isNixOS(),
-        electronVersion: electronVersion,
-        buildFromSource: true
+        electronVersion
     });
 }
 
diff --git a/apps/desktop/scripts/start.mts b/apps/desktop/scripts/start.mts
index 192f36f4c..df956fc48 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/scripts/start.mts
+++ b/apps/desktop/scripts/start.mts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ execSync("electron ./src/main.ts", {
         NODE_ENV: "development",
         TRILIUM_ENV: "dev",
         TRILIUM_DATA_DIR: "data",
-        TRILIUM_RESOURCE_DIR: "../server/src"
+        TRILIUM_RESOURCE_DIR: "../server/src",
+        BETTERSQLITE3_NATIVE_PATH: join(projectRoot, "node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Release/better_sqlite3.node")
     }
 });
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/sql.ts b/apps/server/src/services/sql.ts
index 15f5af389..206a828d6 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/sql.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/sql.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ import becca_loader from "../becca/becca_loader.js";
 import entity_changes from "./entity_changes.js";
 import config from "./config.js";
 
+const dbOpts: Database.Options = {
+    nativeBinding: process.env.BETTERSQLITE3_NATIVE_PATH || undefined
+};
+
 let dbConnection: DatabaseType = buildDatabase();
 let statementCache: Record<string, Statement> = {};
 
@@ -23,15 +27,18 @@ function buildDatabase() {
     if (process.env.TRILIUM_INTEGRATION_TEST === "memory") {
         return buildIntegrationTestDatabase();
     } else if (process.env.TRILIUM_INTEGRATION_TEST === "memory-no-store") {
-        return new Database(":memory:");
+        return new Database(":memory:", dbOpts);
     }
 
-    return new Database(dataDir.DOCUMENT_PATH, { readonly: config.General.readOnly });
+    return new Database(dataDir.DOCUMENT_PATH, {
+        ...dbOpts,
+        readonly: config.General.readOnly
+    });
 }
 
 function buildIntegrationTestDatabase(dbPath?: string) {
     const dbBuffer = fs.readFileSync(dbPath ?? dataDir.DOCUMENT_PATH);
-    return new Database(dbBuffer);
+    return new Database(dbBuffer, dbOpts);
 }
 
 function rebuildIntegrationTestDatabase(dbPath?: string) {
diff --git a/apps/server/src/share/sql.ts b/apps/server/src/share/sql.ts
index 229e09ec7..36cca4b5e 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/share/sql.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/share/sql.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ import sql_init from "../services/sql_init.js";
 let dbConnection!: Database.Database;
 
 sql_init.dbReady.then(() => {
-    dbConnection = new Database(dataDir.DOCUMENT_PATH, { readonly: true });
+    dbConnection = new Database(dataDir.DOCUMENT_PATH, {
+        readonly: true,
+        nativeBinding: process.env.BETTERSQLITE3_NATIVE_PATH || undefined
+    });
 
     [`exit`, `SIGINT`, `SIGUSR1`, `SIGUSR2`, `SIGTERM`].forEach((eventType) => {
         process.on(eventType, () => {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d7bfb82fc..c7c746135 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
     "server:coverage": "nx test server --coverage",
     "server:start": "pnpm run --filter server dev",
     "server:start-prod": "nx run server:start-prod",
+    "desktop:start": "pnpm run --filter desktop dev",
     "electron:build": "nx build desktop",
     "chore:ci-update-nightly-version": "tsx ./scripts/update-nightly-version.ts",
     "chore:generate-openapi": "tsx ./scripts/generate-openapi.ts",