Setting "target: node" in demo app causes packaged app to fail to load index.js

[petertorelli]

Pre-flight checklist

• I have read the contribution documentation for this project.
• I agree to follow the code of conduct that this project uses.
• I have searched the issue tracker for a bug that matches the one I want to file, without success.

Electron Forge version

6.0.4

Electron version

v22.0.0

Operating system

macOS 13.1 m1

Last known working Electron Forge version

6.0.0-beta.67

Expected behavior

The demo app should be able to load the renderer's index.js file.

Actual behavior

It does not, I get ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND. See below.

Steps to reproduce

Start with the demo app:

yarn create electron-app my-new-app2 --template=webpack-typescript

Edit webpack.renderer.config.ts and add one line target: node, like this:

.
.
.
export const rendererConfig: Configuration = {
  module: {
    rules,
  },
  plugins,
  resolve: {
    extensions: ['.js', '.ts', '.jsx', '.tsx', '.css'],
  },
  target: 'node',
};

Package and run

% yarn package
% open out/my-new-app2-darwin-arm64/my-new-app2.app

I expect the packaged application to be able to load index.js. Instead, it fails with ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND because it is looking for Request URL: file:///Users/petertorelli/proj/my-new-app2/out/my-new-app2-darwin-arm64/my-new-app2.app/Contents/Resources/app/.webpack/renderer/main_window/main_window/index.js

As you can see 'main_window/main_window' is not a valid path:

% tree out/my-new-app2-darwin-arm64/my-new-app2.app/Contents/Resources/app/.webpack 
out/my-new-app2-darwin-arm64/my-new-app2.app/Contents/Resources/app/.webpack
├── main
│   └── index.js
└── renderer
    └── main_window
        ├── index.html
        ├── index.js
        └── preload.js

Additional information

EDIT: It was packaging fine in 6.0.0-beta.67 as seen in my other open issue #2949.

[erickzhao]

The target for a renderer process that has Node.js access should be electron-renderer, not node.

I think we made some changes to how the webpack plugin determines targets, but in theory I don't think you would ever need the node target.

[petertorelli]

@erickzhao So then how does one use node integration in the renderer? because nodeIntegration: true leads to webpack complaining, and webpack external: [<module>] causes the renderer process to get {} for the module.

[petertorelli]

@erickzhao And target electron-renderer leads us to "Uncaught ReferenceError: require is not defined" in the renderer.

[petertorelli]

@erickzhao Whoops... forgot contextIsolation: true.

So to use Node.js modules in a renderer I need:

1. renderer webpack config... target: electron-renderer
2. nodeIntegration: true
3. contextIsolation: false

Thanks. Closing.