Error when packing for Linux and Windows from a macOS

[msbrogli]

Summary

The following error is happening on Linux:

And the following error is happening on Windows:

[Window Title]
Error

[Main Instruction]
A JavaScript error occurred in the main process

[Content]
Uncaught Exception:
Error: \\?\C:\Users\Tulio\AppData\Local\Temp\43c7bae1-4b77-45c3-817c-da7016b3c4d0.tmp.node is not a valid Win32 application.
\\?\C:\Users\Tulio\AppData\Local\Temp\43c7bae1-4b77-45c3-817c-da7016b3c4d0.tmp.node
    at process.func [as dlopen] (node:electron/js2c/asar_bundle:2:2131)
    at Object.<anonymous> (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1356:18)
    at Object.func [as .node] (node:electron/js2c/asar_bundle:2:2358)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1126:32)
    at node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:967:12
    at Function._load (node:electron/js2c/asar_bundle:2:13327)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1150:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:121:18)
    at load (C:\Users\Tulio\AppData\Local\Programs\hathor-wallet\resources\app.asar\node_modules\usb\node_modules\node-gyp-build\node-gyp-build.js:22:10)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\Tulio\AppData\Local\Programs\hathor-wallet\resources\app.asar\node_modules\usb\dist\usb\bindings.js:8:36)

[OK]

Root Cause Analysis

Why are these errors happening?

Because their packages are loading an invalid executable. Specifically, they are loading a Mach-O executable generated by the usb package which was supposed to be used only in a macOS.

Why?

Because the usb package uses the node-gyp-build package to load the shared object. As the usb package has a build/ folder, it supersedes the prebuilt binaries in the prebuilds/ folder (which contains binaries for all platforms) and the wrong object is loaded.

Why?

Because node-hid cannot load a prebuilt binary so it launches a rebuild which is also rebuilding the usb package using the node-gyp rebuild. But this rebuilding tool does not recognize prebuilt binaries so it actually builds the usb package and creates the build/ folder.

Why?

(pending)

Notes

• It seems that [email protected] has already fixed the issue but our dependencies are still using [email protected].

Quick fix

Here is one quick fix. It works because the removal of this file prevents the usb package from building.

diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
index fc1e338..14c5ef2 100755
--- a/release.sh
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ step3() {
        echo "step3: (empty)"
        #echo step3: install missing packing tools
        #npm install electron-builder@latest
+
+       rm ./node_modules/usb/binding.gyp
 }

 step4() {

@r4mmer is experimenting using the overrides in package.json to change the dependency of a dependency. But it is still not working.

[tuliomir]

All builds I've tested so far on #425 indicate that NodeJS 20 is able to adequately package the binaries to Linux.

The tests on Windows are still ongoing, but I believe this is a viable alternate solution to this issue.

[pedroferreira1]

@r4mmer is experimenting using the overrides in package.json to change the dependency of a dependency. But it is still not working.

We already use the package patch-package, that has a simple way to change dependencies code. (https://github.com/ds300/patch-package#readme)