build: fix --node-builtin-modules-path

[panva]

Disclaimer: I am way out of my depth here and am more than happy to pawn this off to someone who's not. The following stopped working for me some time back in that it no longer picks up js changes without re-make.

./configure --node-builtin-modules-path $(pwd) --ninja 
make

I threw Claude at the problem and it came up with this which fixed the issue for me. I'm opening this as a draft so hopefully other collaborators with more insight into how this works can chime in and verify whether there is something awry or not.

Darwin M1-MacBook-Pro.local 25.3.0 Darwin Kernel Version 25.3.0: Wed Jan 28 20:53:15 PST 2026; root:xnu-12377.81.4~5/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 arm64

[nodejs-github-bot]

Review requested:

• @nodejs/gyp
• @nodejs/startup

[panva]

@joyeecheung I can now confirm the breaking point was #60518 (12fad1b).

[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 0% with 1 line in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 89.58%. Comparing base (330e3ee) to head (22be1a2).
⚠️ Report is 43 commits behind head on main.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
src/node_builtins.cc	0.00%	1 Missing ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main   #62115      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   91.62%   89.58%   -2.05%     
==========================================
  Files         337      676     +339     
  Lines      140453   206173   +65720     
  Branches    21801    39446   +17645     
==========================================
+ Hits       128694   184697   +56003     
- Misses      11536    13595    +2059     
- Partials      223     7881    +7658     

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/node_builtins.cc	75.90% <0.00%> (ø)

... and 459 files with indirect coverage changes

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[nodejs-github-bot]

CI: https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/71591/

[nodejs-github-bot]

Commit Queue failed

- Loading data for nodejs/node/pull/62115
✔  Done loading data for nodejs/node/pull/62115
----------------------------------- PR info ------------------------------------
Title      build: fix `--node-builtin-modules-path` (#62115)
Author     Filip Skokan <panva.ip@gmail.com> (@panva)
Branch     panva:issues-node-builtin-modules-path -> nodejs:main
Labels     c++, build, author ready, needs-ci
Commits    1
 - build: fix --node-builtin-modules-path
Committers 1
 - Filip Skokan <panva.ip@gmail.com>
PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/62115
Reviewed-By: Joyee Cheung <joyeec9h3@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Yagiz Nizipli <yagiz@nizipli.com>
------------------------------ Generated metadata ------------------------------
PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/62115
Reviewed-By: Joyee Cheung <joyeec9h3@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Yagiz Nizipli <yagiz@nizipli.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   ℹ  This PR was created on Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:57:36 GMT
   ✔  Approvals: 2
   ✔  - Joyee Cheung (@joyeecheung) (TSC): https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/62115#pullrequestreview-3897816284
   ✔  - Yagiz Nizipli (@anonrig) (TSC): https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/62115#pullrequestreview-3921803443
   ✘  Last GitHub CI failed
   ℹ  Last Full PR CI on 2026-03-06T00:46:15Z: https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/71591/
- Querying data for job/node-test-pull-request/71591/
✔  Build data downloaded
   ✔  Last Jenkins CI successful
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   ✔  Aborted `git node land` session in /home/runner/work/node/node/.ncu

https://github.com/nodejs/node/actions/runs/22913149909

[panva]

Landed in c96c3da