CONOUT$ no longer available for Node 22?

[jpage-godaddy]

Node.js Version

v22.4.1

NPM Version

v10.8.1

Operating System

Windows 11

Subsystem

fs, process

Description

I am trying to fix some code for compatibility with node 22 that writes directly to the terminal. For unix-like OS's, things work fine due to /dev/tty, but for Windows, the code uses process.binding('fs') hackery to open the conout$ magic file. However, this no-longer works in node 22, which treats conout$ as a regular filename and of course cannot find it.

Is there a way to make something like this work for node 22? Is there finally a cleaner option to writing to the Windows console directly without using stdout?

const openWindowsConsole = () => {
  // vX.X.X
  const nodeVersion = parseInt(process.version.split('.')[0].slice(1), 10);

  // For node 22, we seem to be unable to open CONOUT$
  if (nodeVersion >= 22) {
    // What do we do here?
    throw new Error('This application is incompatible with Windows & node 22');
  }

  const openArgs = [
    "CONOUT$",
    // eslint-disable-next-line no-bitwise
    fs.constants.O_RDWR | fs.constants.O_EXCL,
    0o666
  ];

  if (nodeVersion < 20) {
    // Older version of node require null being passed explicitly for the
    // optional arguments, but this breaks node 20.
    openArgs.push(null, null)
  }

  return new tty.WriteStream(
    process.binding("fs").open(...openArgs)
  );
}

Minimal Reproduction

Using node 22, on Windows run this code:

const fs = require('fs');
process.binding("fs").open('conout$', fs.constants.O_RDWR | fs.constants.O_EXCL, 0o666);

Output

Uncaught [Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'C:\Users\jpage\conout$'] {
  errno: -4058,
  code: 'ENOENT',
  syscall: 'open',
  path: 'C:\\Users\\jpage\\conout$'
}

Before You Submit

• I have looked for issues that already exist before submitting this
• My issue follows the guidelines in the README file, and follows the 'How to ask a good question' guide at https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-ask

[RedYetiDev]

@nodejs/fs PTAL

[lpinca]

I hit the same issue. I think it makes sense to move this to nodejs/issues.

[lpinca]

The minimal test case passes on Node.js 22.3.0 but fails on Node.js 22.4.0 I think the culprit is #52135.

@anonrig can you take a look?

[lpinca]

On second look I do not think it is #52135, it does not seem to touch process.bindings('fs').open(). I'll run git bisect tomorrow.

Edit: it does.

[lpinca]

Works on 2eff28f, fails on 399eb33.

[lpinca]

The following patch cannot land but fixes the issue.

diff --git a/src/node_file.cc b/src/node_file.cc
index a86482b194..0cc5a821cd 100644
--- a/src/node_file.cc
+++ b/src/node_file.cc
@@ -2137,7 +2137,7 @@ static void Open(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
 
   BufferValue path(env->isolate(), args[0]);
   CHECK_NOT_NULL(*path);
-  ToNamespacedPath(env, &path);
+  // ToNamespacedPath(env, &path);
 
   CHECK(args[1]->IsInt32());
   const int flags = args[1].As<Int32>()->Value();

#52135 should have been marked as semver-major.

[lpinca]

I think there is currently no workaround. fs.openSync('\\\\.\\CON', 'w') also fails because a trailing \ is added by ToNamespacedPath().

[lpinca]

cc: @nodejs/platform-windows @huseyinacacak-janea

[targos]

#52135 should have been marked as semver-major.

I don't understand why you say that. The PR was supposed to be only refactoring. If it changed the behavior on Windows, it should be fixed or reverted.

[lpinca]

I don't understand why you say that. The PR was supposed to be only refactoring. If it changed the behavior on Windows, it should be fixed or reverted.

The problem is that userland modules uses process.binding('fs').open() directly and #52135 changed it in a breaking way.

[targos]

process.binding is out of semver guarantees.

[lpinca]

Fair enough. I wonder if the trailing slash added by path.win32.resolve() and node::PathResolve() is needed. There are only 3 tests (easy to fix) failing with this patch that would at least make #54161 (comment) viable.

diff --git a/lib/path.js b/lib/path.js
index f72f5835e9..ce91895071 100644
--- a/lib/path.js
+++ b/lib/path.js
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ const win32 = {
                                    isPathSeparator);
 
     return resolvedAbsolute ?
-      `${resolvedDevice}\\${resolvedTail}` :
+      `${resolvedDevice}${resolvedTail ? '\\' + resolvedTail : ''}` :
       `${resolvedDevice}${resolvedTail}` || '.';
   },
 
diff --git a/src/path.cc b/src/path.cc
index fade21c8af..98b420d55a 100644
--- a/src/path.cc
+++ b/src/path.cc
@@ -221,7 +221,11 @@ std::string PathResolve(Environment* env,
   resolvedTail = NormalizeString(resolvedTail, !resolvedAbsolute, "\\");
 
   if (resolvedAbsolute) {
-    return resolvedDevice + "\\" + resolvedTail;
+    if (!resolvedTail.empty()) {
+      return resolvedDevice + "\\" + resolvedTail;
+    }
+
+    return resolvedDevice;
   }
 
   if (!resolvedDevice.empty() || !resolvedTail.empty()) {

[lpinca]

The above patch breaks the following expectation

path.win32.toNamespacedPath('c://') === '\\\\?\\c:\\';

I'm out of ideas.

[anonrig]

I'll take a look, but it seems like the change fixed a bypass. We can add a specific bypass to ToNamespacedPath for this value?

[huseyinacacak-janea]

I think there is currently no workaround. fs.openSync('\\\\.\\CON', 'w') also fails because a trailing \ is added by ToNamespacedPath().

@lpinca I'm working on fixing this issue. It is very similar to #54025

[lpinca]

I've also created https://github.com/lpinca/fs-open-sync.

[EarlyRiser42]

I’ve submitted a PR to fix the issue at #54367. If anyone has a moment, I would greatly appreciate your review.