aws-lambda-nodejs doesn't build if parcel is not installed globally

[mattsains]

I think because of this line, parcel needs to be installed globally for aws-lambda-nodejs to build.

Reproduction Steps

1. Take a working app containing a aws-lambda-nodejs construct.

2. Run npm remove -g parcel

3. Run cdk synth on the app. The command fails with:

   Failed to build file at ./lambda/src/index.ts: Error: spawnSync parcel ENOENT

Error Log

See above

Environment

• **CLI Version : 1.22.0 (build 309ac1b)
• **Framework Version: 1.23.0
• **OS : MacOS 10.15.3
• **Language : typescript

Other

I think you need to reference the binary as a dependency, similar to how npx works, rather than invoking spawn

---

This is 🐛 Bug Report

[mattsains]

I think it might be possible to replace the code with the following:

const args = [
  'parcel',
  'build', options.entry,
  '--out-dir', options.outDir,
  '--out-file', 'index.js',
  '--global', options.global,
  '--target', 'node',
  '--bundle-node-modules',
  '--log-level', '2',
  !options.minify && '--no-minify',
  !options.sourceMaps && '--no-source-maps',
  ...options.cacheDir
    ? ['--cache-dir', options.cacheDir]
    : [],
].filter(Boolean) as string[];

const parcel = spawnSync('npx', args);

[SomayaB]

Hi @mattsains, thanks for reporting this and opening up a PR, much appreciated! 👍

[eladb]

@jogold can you take a look please?

[jogold]

@mattsains parcel shouldn't be installed globally after installing @aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs locally, did you install @aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs globally?

Can you run npm list -g --depth 0 after installing @aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs locally?

[jogold]

I agree that there's maybe something to do to improve cross platform compatibility here but I'm not sure I would go with npx (there is a reinstall/redownload risk with npx). How about looking up the path of the bin and then run node <binPath> ...?

[mattsains]

@mattsains parcel shouldn't be installed globally after installing @aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs locally, did you install @aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs globally?

Can you run npm list -g --depth 0 after installing @aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs locally?

Sorry, I think you might be misunderstanding me. I in fact didn't have parcel installed globally, that is the problem. Because the construct is calling spawn, it requires that parcel is installed globally in order for it to work - it's basically trying to execute parcel on $PATH.

I have not installed @aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs globally either.

I agree that there's maybe something to do to improve cross platform compatibility here but I'm not sure I would go with npx (there is a reinstall/redownload risk with npx). How about looking up the path of the bin and then run node <binPath> ...?

I don't think this is an "improve cross-platform" issue - have you tried the reproduction steps? Unless I'm missing something, this would be a problem anywhere you haven't installed parcel globally (ie., the majority of users)

[jogold]

No, I was not able to reproduce.

It runs on my machine with a local install of @aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs. It also runs like that here in the CI and the tests are passing.

What am I missing? Can you give more details about your environment?

[mattsains]

Here is my npm list -g --depth 0 output:

/usr/local/lib
├── aws-cdk@1.22.0
├── aws-es-kibana@1.0.8
├── aws-iam-proxy@0.1.11
├── lerna@3.19.0
├── npm@6.13.7
├── ts-node@8.6.2
├── UNMET PEER DEPENDENCY typescript@>=2.7
└── yarn@1.21.1

Could you post yours?

[jogold]

/home/jonathan/.nvm/versions/node/v12.13.1/lib
└── npm@6.12.1

I think that I'm starting to understand I'm using aws-cdk locally also and running it with yarn (this is comparable to what runs here in the CI).

Let's continue the discussion in the PR to find the right fix.