Getting a spawn UNKNOWN error? Tried lots of things. No idea what direction to go.

[jcolley]

I receive the below error and cannot seem to get this wonderful utility to start.

What I've tried:

• Running a fresh clone of the latest release in Windows CMD shell, with and without Administrator access
• Running a fresh clone of the latest release in WSLv1 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
• Removing all unused .env variables
• Following the Windows installation guide
• Following the Linux installation guide
• Searching for similar issues
• Reinstalling NPM (both OS's)
• Restarting PC (several times throughout)

OS: Win10 20H2 / OS: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (WSL)

Here's the npm run start output:

[3:32:47 AM] info :: ℹ selected stores: amazon, amd, bandh, bestbuy, expert, gamestop, microcenter, newegg, officedepot, target, walmart
[3:32:47 AM] info :: ℹ selected brands: evga, nvidia, amd
[3:32:47 AM] info :: ℹ selected models: ftw3, ftw3 ultra, 5900x, 5950x, founders edition
[3:32:47 AM] info :: ℹ selected series: 3060ti, 3070, 3080, 3090, rx6800, rx6800xt, rx6900xt, ryzen5600, ryzen5800, ryzen5900, ryzen5950, sonyps5c, sonyps5de, xboxss, xboxsx
[3:32:48 AM] error :: ✖ something bad happened, resetting streetmerchant in 5 seconds spawn UNKNOWN {
  "errno": "UNKNOWN",
  "code": "UNKNOWN",
  "syscall": "spawn",
  "stack": "Error: spawn UNKNOWN\n    at ChildProcess.spawn (internal/child_process.js:407:11)\n    at Object.spawn (child_process.js:548:9)\n    at BrowserRunner.start (C:\\Users\\name\\Projects\\streetmerchant\\node_modules\\puppeteer-extra\\node_modules\\puppeteer\\lib\\Launcher.js:77:30)\n    at ChromeLauncher.launch (C:\\Users\\name\\Projects\\streetmerchant\\node_modules\\puppeteer-extra\\node_modules\\puppeteer\\lib\\Launcher.js:242:12)\n    at async PuppeteerExtra.launch (C:\\Users\\name\\Projects\\streetmerchant\\node_modules\\puppeteer-extra\\dist\\index.cjs.js:129:25)\n    at async main (C:\\Users\\name\\Projects\\streetmerchant\\build\\index.js:36:15)\n    at async loopMain (C:\\Users\\name\\Projects\\streetmerchant\\build\\index.js:72:9)"

Here's a copy of my current .env:

AUTO_ADD_TO_CART="true"
DESKTOP_NOTIFICATIONS="true"
LOW_BANDWIDTH="true"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_3060TI="450"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_3070="599"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_3080="799"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_3090="1000"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_CORSAIR_SF=""
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_RX6800="500"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_RX6800XT="500"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_RX6900XT="500"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_RYZEN5600="500"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_RYZEN5800="500"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_RYZEN5900="500"
MAX_PRICE_SERIES_RYZEN5950="500"
MICROCENTER_LOCATION="parkville,rockville"
NVIDIA_ADD_TO_CART_ATTEMPTS="3"
SHOW_ONLY_BRANDS="evga,nvidia,amd"
SHOW_ONLY_MODELS="ftw3,ftw3 ultra,5900x,5950x,founders edition"
STORES="amazon,amd,bandh,bestbuy,expert,gamestop,microcenter,newegg,officedepot,target,walmart"

Thanks for any insight or suggestions.

[jef]

First, I would remove NVIDIA_ADD_TO_CART_ATTEMPTS="3", as it's only for the nvidia and nvidia-api stores.

Second, I would move your .env to a backup folder and try to run the app (no configuration). If it works, then it's your config. If it doesn't then you know it is your config!

Let me know how it works from there.

Thanks!

[jcolley]

Thanks for the help.
I decided to start from scratch. Deleted the existing streetmerchant directory and did a git clone to grab a fresh copy.
Performed npm install and npm install @types/express @types/qs@6.9.4 to ensure dependencies are met.

After running npm run start - without creating a .env or changing any files, I still get the same something bad happened... and spawn UNKNOWN... error.

Since there is no config. It can't be my config, no?

[jef]

npm install @types/express @types/qs@6.9.4

I don't know if this is necessary. Where did you see this was the case?

I see now that you're using WSL. I'm not 100% on the dependencies needed, but do you have these dependencies in this list?

https://github.com/jef/streetmerchant/wiki/Installation:-Linux:-Debian-based

[jcolley]

I want to be very clear: I've tried this separately, with a fresh clone each time, in Win10's cmd shell, as well as WSLv1 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, and received the same error in both environments. Because of this, I am now focusing on Win10's cmd shell.

The first time I ran npm install in each environment, I received warnings that @types/express and @types/qs@6.9.4 must be installed manually. They are typescript dependencies and after running npm install @types/express @types/qs@6.9.4, the warning went away and I assume all is well on the dependency front.

I did manage to get it working just now. Having been a sys admin for over 20 years, I incorrectly assumed that I could loosely follow the step-by-step Windows installation instructions, and (as my original post shows) I was cloning the project into C:\Users\name\Projects\streetmerchant\ as that's where I wanted the application to live.
On a hunch, I tried @ C:\streetmerchant\ as the instructions clearly state, and it works out-of-the-box.

From my experience as a Windows admin, it's not a great idea to start adding applications and directories at the root C:\ directory level. After all, Microsoft themselves separate Program Files from User files there for a reason and at some point (at least in the past) it was even against the Windows software design guides as published by Microsoft.

As long as we know what we're doing, it won't really hurt anything, but that doesn't make it right.
Can you share with me the reason the application requires the path: C:\streetmerchant\ and fails inside a user directory? I am guessing it has to do with either the $PATH variable or Window's limits on long file paths, but I'd like to investigate making this work elsewhere if you could nudge me in the right direction by sharing your reasoning.
I'll be happy to make a PR with any required changes that would enable this to work.

[jef]

That's interesting, because I've put streetmerchant in several different places on my Windows machine while testing. I honestly can't duplicate what you've ran into unforunately.

Perhaps the system environment for node location is off, but I never had to touch that on my Windows machine. I don't have any development work on there really, so it's a good place for me to test things.