nodejs/node · error · GypError

Could not automatically locate src directory. This isa temp

Error message

Could not automatically locate src directory.  This isa temporary Chromium feature that will be removed.  Use--depth as a workaround.

What it means

GypError('Could not automatically locate src directory...') is raised when --depth was not supplied and gyp's Chromium-specific heuristic fails: it walks each build file's absolute path components looking for a directory literally named 'src', and none is found. The 'depth' is used as the source-tree root for relative target paths. The message itself notes this is a legacy Chromium feature and recommends --depth.

Source

Thrown at tools/gyp/pylib/gyp/__init__.py:592

    # found will be treated as though it were the path used for --depth.
    if not options.depth:
        for build_file in build_files:
            build_file_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(build_file))
            build_file_dir_components = build_file_dir.split(os.path.sep)
            components_len = len(build_file_dir_components)
            for index in range(components_len - 1, -1, -1):
                if build_file_dir_components[index] == "src":
                    options.depth = os.path.sep.join(build_file_dir_components)
                    break
                del build_file_dir_components[index]

            # If the inner loop found something, break without advancing to another
            # build file.
            if options.depth:
                break

        if not options.depth:
            raise GypError(
                "Could not automatically locate src directory.  This is"
                "a temporary Chromium feature that will be removed.  Use"
                "--depth as a workaround."
            )

    # If toplevel-dir is not set, we assume that depth is the root of our source
    # tree.
    if not options.toplevel_dir:
        options.toplevel_dir = options.depth

    # -D on the command line sets variable defaults - D isn't just for define,
    # it's for default.  Perhaps there should be a way to force (-F?) a
    # variable's value so that it can't be overridden by anything else.
    cmdline_default_variables = {}
    defines = []
    if options.use_environment:
        defines += ShlexEnv("GYP_DEFINES")
    if options.defines:

View on GitHub (pinned to 1b2de5e052)

Solutions

1. Pass --depth=<path-to-source-root> explicitly on the gyp command line.
2. Ensure the build file lives under a directory chain containing a 'src' component, or rename your root to 'src'.
3. Set options.depth in your wrapper script before calling gyp.main.

Example fix

# before
python gyp project.gyp

# after
python gyp --depth=. project.gyp

import os
def resolve_depth(build_file):
    parts = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(build_file)).split(os.path.sep)
    if 'src' in parts:
        return os.path.sep.join(parts[:parts.index('src') + 1])
    return os.getcwd()  # explicit fallback instead of relying on heuristic
depth = resolve_depth(build_file)

def path_has_src_component(build_file: str) -> bool:
    import os
    return 'src' in os.path.abspath(build_file).split(os.path.sep)

try:
    gyp_main(args)
except GypError as e:
    if 'src directory' in str(e):
        args = ['--depth=' + os.getcwd()] + args  # supply depth, retry
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Running gyp without --depth on a build file whose path contains no 'src' component; checking out only a subtree of a Chromium-style repo; renaming the top-level source directory away from 'src'.

Common situations: Non-Chromium projects that nonetheless use gyp and don't have a 'src' dir; shallow clones that omit the conventional layout; vendoring a gyp project under a differently named root.

Related errors

• %s: error: no build_file
• `${baseKey}` is not a valid npm option
• The `${baseKey}` option is deprecated, and cannot be set in
• The ${key} option is protected, and cannot be retrieved in t
• Tag name must not be a valid SemVer range: ${defaultTag.trim

AI-assisted analysis of nodejs/node@1b2de5e052 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7aac2a5915e8066a. Report an issue: GitHub.