Native Erlang setup

Tested runtimes

JavaScript is tested on Node 24.10.0 and the desktop versions listed in Browser compatibility. Erlang implements all core operations. The retained native gates pass on macOS arm64 with OTP 29 and Ubuntu 24.04 x86_64 with OTP 28.5.0.7 and 29.1.1. Both Linux jobs include a deployed Gleam shipment. Other platforms, OTP releases and deployment tools remain unverified. The verified compiler is Gleam 1.18.1.

Build the regex helper

Erlang uses a standalone C regex executable. Install make and a C compiler. From a source checkout, run:

make -C priv/regex-src
gleam test --target erlang

For a downloaded dependency in a Gleam application, run from the application root:

gleam deps download
make -C build/packages/gargamelle/priv/regex-src
gleam run --target erlang

For a local path dependency, run make -C priv/regex-src in that dependency’s source directory instead. Gleam does not automatically run this Makefile. The build creates build/native/gargamelle_regex_port inside the dependency. JavaScript builds do not require it. No JavaScript runtime is needed on Erlang.

The Hex archive contains the C sources, license and provenance record. Generated executables stay outside priv to keep host binaries out of source exports. Rebuild for each deployment operating system and architecture.

Release deployment

Install the executable as priv/gargamelle_regex_port in the deployed Gargamelle OTP application, preserving its executable permissions. The binding first checks that installed location. During development it also resolves the source priv symlink and checks the dependency’s build/native directory. Release tooling must copy the helper explicitly; compiling Gleam alone does not install it.

For a downloaded dependency, a minimal Gleam shipment is:

gleam deps download
make -C build/packages/gargamelle/priv/regex-src
gleam export erlang-shipment
cp build/packages/gargamelle/build/native/gargamelle_regex_port build/erlang-shipment/gargamelle/priv/
chmod +x build/erlang-shipment/gargamelle/priv/gargamelle_regex_port
sh build/erlang-shipment/entrypoint.sh run

For a path dependency, copy the helper from that dependency’s build/native directory. This shipment has been tested on the native runtime matrix above after removing all source and build checkouts. The retained deployment test also verifies that omitting the helper raises an operational error.

A missing helper or a native crash raises an operational error. Execution budget, stack, packet and timeout limits also raise operational errors, including within conditional and exclusion checks. They do not become pattern syntax errors or ordinary validation rejection.

Compatibility and remaining verification

The engine combines QuickJS 2026-06-04 regex code with Unicode 16 tables from 2025-09-13 and two recorded local patches. The Unicode version matches the tested Node 24.10.0 reference. JavaScript uses its host’s Unicode tables. Node 24.21.0 uses Unicode 17 and differs on newly assigned characters, so regex parity with that runtime is not claimed. Changing the Node reference or native tables needs a separate compatibility review. priv/regex-src/PROVENANCE.json records the sources, hashes and patches, and LICENSE.quickjs preserves the upstream MIT license.

Each native validation walk lazily starts one helper and reuses it until the walk finishes. The helper closes before conversion callbacks run. Standalone pattern checks still start a helper per call. A synthetic decode of 64 records with four patterned fields measured about 10.5 ms on the tested machine, versus 887 ms with the original helper-per-call transport. This is an observation, not a timing guarantee; representative application workloads still need measurements. Other platforms, OTP releases and tooling beyond the tested Gleam shipment remain unverified; the current helper uses POSIX APIs. The differential corpus provides bounded evidence rather than complete ECMAScript conformance.