Doesn't work on Windows

[codefoster]

I get an error in gh/lib/exec.js:24 at...

stdout: exec.stdout.toString().trim()

Stating that it Cannot read property 'toString' of null

[henvic]

Hi @codefoster,

can you please tell the command you're trying to invoke and doesn't work (or doesn't it work at all?), the complete exception error, and both your gh and node versions?

node --version
gh --version

Thanks.

[codefoster]

I tried a few different commands and they do the same thing. The last one I tried was gh gi.

node --version //I use nodist (like nvm) and tried 10.33,12.2,and 12.4
gh --version //can't tell... it throws the same error

[henvic]

Okay, please try the following:

nodist 0.12
npm uninstall -g gh
npm install -g gh
gh

If it still doesn't work, please copy & paste the entire stack trace in this issue.

[codefoster]

Sorry for the delay. Didn't work. Here's the full trace...

C:\code> gh
C:\bin\nodist\bin\node_modules\gh\lib\exec.js:24
        stdout: exec.stdout.toString().trim(),
                           ^
TypeError: Cannot read property 'toString' of null
    at Object.exports.spawnSync (C:\bin\nodist\bin\node_modules\gh\lib\exec.js:24:28)
    at Object.exports.getNodeModulesGlobalPath (C:\bin\nodist\bin\node_modules\gh\lib\configs.js:29:23)
    at Object.exports.run (C:\bin\nodist\bin\node_modules\gh\lib\cmd.js:216:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\bin\nodist\bin\node_modules\gh\bin\gh.js:20:26)
    at Module._compile (module.js:460:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:478:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:355:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:310:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:501:10)
    at startup (node.js:129:16)

[henvic]

@codefoster,
sorry for the delay.

I have been pretty busy.
There's no way for me to test on Windows any time soon. I am really sorry about that.

Here are the things that I know might solve or mitigate your issue:
a. update to the latest versions of gh and node.js
b. remove your user's .gh.json
c. after gh user --login open your user's .gh.json and look for the key plugins_path. Either make it empty ("") or set it to whatever value npm root -g returns (so you can still use plugins such as gh-jira).

[flyeven]

On windows 8.1, has the same stdout.toString() Cannot read property 'toString' of null error.

nodejs v0.12.7, the last gh.

[ZoltanTakacs]

Hey @henvic, @zenorocha,

This is an issue with libuv, it doesn't search for *.bat or *.cmd files. I've debugged it and found that child_process.spawnSync() fails with ENOENT on Windows OS.

Please see the same issue here: nodejs/node-v0.x-archive#25330

As a temporary workaround I've modified the gh/lib/exec.js # spawnSync with the code below:

exports.spawnSync = function(cmd, args, options) {
    var exec;

    logger.debug('spawnSync: ' + cmd + ' ' + args.join(' '));

    if (cmd !== 'git') {
        exec = child_process.spawnSync(cmd + '.cmd', args, options);
    } 
    else {
        exec = child_process.spawnSync(cmd, args, options);
    }

    return {
        stdout: exec.stdout.toString().trim(),
        stderr: exec.stderr.toString().trim(),
        status: exec.status
    };
};

$ node -v && npm -v
v0.12.7
2.11.3

Hope that helps for Win users. :)

Related to: #349

[Nilzor]

Thanks @ZoltanTakacs - I created a pull request based on your hack, while adding a check for if the users is running on Windows #411

[henvic]

@Nilzor, @ZoltanTakacs et al.,
I have made some small changes to make it first try without .cmd, then try with .cmd just because I want to avoid it breaking in the future. Can you guys verify it for me?

PS: if you stop using Windows I'll buy you a 🍺 😆

[Nilzor]

Works fine!

I'll take that beer anyway ;) 🍺