NodeJS_20_jll needs "node" command to be defined

[fonsp]

@ultrapoci posted this issue: JuliaPluto/PlutoPDF.jl#17

PlutoPDF uses NodeJS_20_jll to first install JS dependencies with the npm binary in a scratch space, and then node to run a pltuo-to-pdf export.

It looks like installing dependencies is not working on Windows because one of the dependencies assumes that the node command is defined during the npm install process. Is this something that BinaryBuilder can help with?

Here is part of the original issue:

The pluto_to_pdf function fails with the following error (taken from the log file):

229 error code 1
230 error path C:\Users\nicho\.julia\scratchspaces\6eb38059-8c05-41f7-8871-5e7e2697ace6\build_dir3\node_modules\puppeteer
231 error command failed
232 error command C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /d /s /c node install.mjs
233 error "node" non   riconosciuto come comando interno o esterno,
233 error  un programma eseguibile o un file batch.
234 verbose exit 1

Line 233 translates to "node is not recognized as a command or batch file".

This is caused by this line in the "Project.toml" of puppeteer (js dependency that we are trying to install):

https://github.com/puppeteer/puppeteer/blob/14717a7f3ec3d2012abbc4ce0e7ac00bf4375655/packages/puppeteer/package.json#L41

[giordano]

How are things executed on the Julia side?

[fonsp]

Here it is:

https://github.com/JuliaPluto/PlutoPDF.jl/blob/main/src/setup_build.jl#L33

[giordano]

I don't know how to reproduce the workflow locally, and specifically for Windows I don't have access to it, but I think you want to do something along these lines (I couldn't test it, so I don't know if it's correct, but take the gist of it)

    # Add NodeJS PATH to the existing PATH environment variable 
    path_sep = Sys.iswindows() ? ';' : ':'
    path_list = prepend!(split(get(ENV, "PATH", ""), path_sep), NodeJS_20_jll.PATH_list)
    path = join(path_list, path_sep)
    npm_cmd = addenv(`$(npm)`, "PATH" => path)

    cd(dir) do
        run(`$(npm_cmd) --version`)
        run(`$(npm_cmd) install`)
    end

[fonsp]

Ahh I see, thanks! That's good advice :)