I kept getting an error message “Error: pngquant failed to build, make sure that libpng-dev is installed” while trying to build a Nodejs application. After a couple of minutes troubleshooting, I realized this was caused by missing dependency applications required at build time.

> node lib/install.js

  ⚠ The `/home/ubuntu/koel/node_modules/pngquant-bin/vendor/pngquant` binary doesn't seem to work correctly
  ⚠ pngquant pre-build test failed
  ℹ compiling from source
  ✖ Error: pngquant failed to build, make sure that libpng-dev is installed
    at ChildProcess.exithandler (child_process.js:294:12)
    at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:198:13)
    at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:982:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:259:5)

The fix was to install build dependency tools using the Operating system package management application.

Ubuntu / Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential gcc make libpng-dev

CentOS Linux

sudo yum group install "Development Tools"
sudo yum -y install libpng-devel

Then I was able to build successfully.

> [email protected] postinstall /home/ubuntu/koel/node_modules/webpack/node_modules/uglifyjs-webpack-plugin
> node lib/post_install.js


> [email protected] postinstall /home/ubuntu/koel/node_modules/node-sass
> node scripts/build.js

Binary found at /home/ubuntu/koel/node_modules/node-sass/vendor/linux-x64-64/binding.node
Testing binary
Binary is fine

> [email protected] postinstall /home/ubuntu/koel/node_modules/gifsicle
> node lib/install.js

  ✔ gifsicle pre-build test passed successfully

> [email protected] postinstall /home/ubuntu/koel/node_modules/mozjpeg
> node lib/install.js

  ✔ mozjpeg pre-build test passed successfully

> [email protected] postinstall /home/ubuntu/koel/node_modules/optipng-bin
> node lib/install.js

  ✔ optipng pre-build test passed successfully

> [email protected] postinstall /home/ubuntu/koel/node_modules/pngquant-bin
> node lib/install.js

  ⚠ The `/home/ubuntu/koel/node_modules/pngquant-bin/vendor/pngquant` binary doesn't seem to work correctly
  ⚠ pngquant pre-build test failed
  ℹ compiling from source
  ✔ pngquant pre-build test passed successfully
  ✔ pngquant built successfully

There you have it. I hope this article helped you build a Nodejs application with pngquant development tools as dependency.

More guides:

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