tasks-json, version and help flag should imply silent

[demurgos]

The expected output of tasks-json is to emit a JSON representation of the available tasks to the standard output.
Some extra logs may be emitted, causing parse errors by consummers. For example when a gulpfile is transpiled, it emits the line [<time>] Requiring external module <transpiler> followed by the JSON output.

The workaround is to use the --silent flag to suppress the extra logs. Some tools may be missing this flag so they do not work reliably when extra logs are emitted.

Enabling the --silent flag automatically when --tasks-json is used and no log-level is configured would fix those errors and improve ergonomics.

• See related Webstorm issue

[phated]

I thought we did this. @sttk any ideas? @demurgos which version of gulp - the --tasks-json recently was backported to 3.x and maybe we missed the silence part?

[demurgos]

I have this issue with both the standalone CLI (gulp-cli@2.0.1) and the one bundled with Gulp (gulp@4.0.0):

Running from bash in my project:

$ which gulp
/usr/bin/gulp
$ ls -al /usr/bin/gulp 
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 40 2018-04-07 22:14 /usr/bin/gulp -> ../lib/node_modules/gulp-cli/bin/gulp.js
$ gulp --version
[22:14:11] Requiring external module ts-node/register
[22:14:11] CLI version 2.0.1
[22:14:11] Local version 4.0.0
$ gulp --tasks-json
[22:14:18] Requiring external module ts-node/register
{"label":"Tasks for /data/projects/various/turbo-gulp/gulpfile.ts","nodes":[{"label":"lib:dist:publish","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:clean","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:dist:copy:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"lib:dist:copy:custom-typings","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"_build:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"lib:dist:package.json","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"lib:dist:publish","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"lib:build:scripts","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"lib:build:copy","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"lib:build","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:build:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]}]},{"label":"lib:watch","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:build:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:watch:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<anonymous>","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]}]}]},{"label":"lib:clean","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"lib:tsconfig.json","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"lib:typedoc","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:tsconfig.json","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"_typedoc","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"lib:typedoc:deploy","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:tsconfig.json","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"_typedoc","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"deployTypedocTask","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"lib:dist:copy","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:dist:copy:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"lib:dist:copy:custom-typings","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]}]},{"label":"lib:dist:package.json","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"lib:dist","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:clean","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:dist:copy:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"lib:dist:copy:custom-typings","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"_build:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"lib:dist:package.json","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]}]},{"label":"test:build:scripts","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"test:build:copy","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"test:build","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"test:build:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]}]},{"label":"test:watch","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"test:build:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"test:watch:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<anonymous>","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]}]}]},{"label":"test:clean","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"test:tsconfig.json","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"test:run:cjs","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"test:run:esm","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"test:run","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"test:run:cjs","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"test:run:esm","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"test:coverage","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"test","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"test:clean","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"test:build:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"test:coverage","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":":bump-major","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":":bump-minor","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":":bump-patch","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":":lint","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":":lint:fix","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":":tslint.json","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"all:tsconfig.json","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:tsconfig.json","type":"task","nodes":[]},{"label":"test:tsconfig.json","type":"task","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"dist","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:clean","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:dist:copy:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"lib:dist:copy:custom-typings","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"_build:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"lib:dist:package.json","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]}]},{"label":"default","type":"task","nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:clean","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<series>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"lib:dist:copy:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"lib:dist:copy:custom-typings","type":"function","nodes":[]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"<parallel>","type":"function","branch":true,"nodes":[{"label":"_copy","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]},{"label":"_build:scripts","type":"function","nodes":[]}]},{"label":"lib:dist:package.json","type":"function","nodes":[]}]}]}]}]}

The linked issue (with Webstorm) uses the command:

$ /usr/bin/node /data/projects/various/turbo-gulp/node_modules/gulp/bin/gulp.js --no-color --gulpfile /data/projects/various/turbo-gulp/gulpfile.ts --tasks-json

So it uses the bin included in gulp@4 (not gulp-cli).

[phated]

That's frightening 😉Thanks for more details.

[sttk]

@demurgos @phated About --tasks-json, this issue can be fixed by adding opts.tasksJson in this condition. I'll send a pr for this.

If it is needed to suppress requiring logs for --version and --help (and more flags?), a few more modifications are needed. (stop logging in first toConsole, and enable logging in second toConsole).

[demurgos]

--version and --help are intended for humans so the extra logs are less problemematic, but it still would be good to only keep the relevant information. The use of the transpiler is not related to the version or help. I did not look into the code details, but from a user point of view it may be surprising that these commands load the gulpfile.

[phated]

[phated]

A fix for this has been published in gulp-cli 2.1.0!