Static build on macOS fails beacuse the sources list for `libnode.a` is empty

[Xmader]

Version

v26.4.0

Platform

arm64 macOS

Subsystem

Build system

What steps will reproduce the bug?

Build with ./configure --enable-static <...>

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

Always

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

Build succeeds.

What do you see instead?

rm -f <node_root>/out/Release/libnode.a && /opt/local/bin/python3.12 gyp-mac-tool filter-libtool libtool  -static -o <node_root>/out/Release/libnode.a 

error: libtool: no files specified
Usage: libtool -static [-] file [...] [-filelist listfile[,dirname]] [-arch_only arch] [-sacLT] [-no_warning_for_no_symbols]
Usage: libtool -dynamic [-] file [...] [-filelist listfile[,dirname]] [-arch_only arch] [-o output] [-install_name name] [-compatibility_version #] [-current_version #] [-seg1addr 0x#] [-segs_read_only_addr 0x#] [-segs_read_write_addr 0x#] [-seg_addr_table <filename>] [-seg_addr_table_filename <file_system_path>] [-all_load] [-noall_load]

Additional information

In https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/v26.4.0/node.gyp#L1087-L1113, no C++ sources are provided for 'target_name': '<(node_lib_target_name)', so the arguments for libtool is empty (Should be bunch of .o files).

Compare the sources list for 'target_name': '<(node_lib_target_name)' in Node v25: https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/v25.9.0/node.gyp#L888-L913

[Renegade334]

Refs: #63626

[bitpshr]

It looks like the culprit is the node_base split in #63626. That moved node's C++ sources into an always-static node_base target, and libnode now only lists <@(library_files) and <@(deps_files) (the JS files) as its own sources. It gets node's objects from its node_base dependency, but only through the node_shared=="true" block in node.gyp (around line 1197), which force-loads libnode_base.a at link time. There is no equivalent for a static libnode, and as the comment near line 1220 notes, gyp only auto-applies whole-archive to static dependencies of shared_library targets, not static_library ones. So with --enable-static, libnode.a is archived from its JS-only sources and libtool gets no object files, which is the "no files specified" error.

I think the fix needs the static case to fold node_base's archive into libnode.a rather than relying on the link-time force-load that only runs for shared builds.