remote-child_process

Spawn a child_process on a remote via a server almost like a normal child_process.

Install

npm i @mh-cbon/remote-child_process --save

Usage

spawn

var Rcp         = require('@mh-cbon/remote-child_process')
var RcpServer   = Rcp.RcpServer;

var spawn       = Rcp.spawn;


var address = {host: '127.0.0.1', port: 8080};
var server = new RcpServer()

server.open(address, function () {
  var child = spawn('ls', ['-al'], {bridgeAddress: address, stdio: 'pipe'});

  child.stdout.pipe(process.stdout);
  child.stderr.pipe(process.stderr);
  // child.stdin.end('some data');

  child.on('error', function (err) {
    console.log(err); // it may also throw ECONNREFUSED
  })

  child.on('started', function (err) {
    console.log("pid=%s", child.pid);
  })

  child.on('exit', function (err) {
    console.log("exited");
  })
  child.on('close', function () {
    console.log("closed")
    server.close(force=!true);
  })
})

var tout = setTimeout(function () {
  throw 'no client connected yet'
}, 1500)

server.on('client_connected', function () {
  clearTimeout(tout)
})

exec

var Rcp         = require('@mh-cbon/remote-child_process')
var RcpServer   = Rcp.RcpServer;

var exec        = Rcp.exec;


var address = {host: '127.0.0.1', port: 8080};
var server = new RcpServer()

server.open(address, function () {
  var opts = {bridgeAddress: address};
  var child = exec('ls -al', opts, function (err, stdout, stderr) {
    console.log("exec end")
    console.log("error=%s", error);
    console.log("stdout=%s", stdout);
    console.log("stderr=%s", stderr);
  });

  child.on('error', function (err) {
    console.log(err); // it may also throw ECONNREFUSED
  })

  child.on('started', function (err) {
    console.log("pid=%s", child.pid);
  })

  child.on('exit', function (err) {
    console.log("exited");
  })
  child.on('close', function () {
    console.log("closed")
    server.close(force=!true);
  })
})

var tout = setTimeout(function () {
  throw 'no client connected yet'
}, 1500)

server.on('client_connected', function () {
  clearTimeout(tout)
})

• pid and methods call are available after started event has emit
• on network failure, it throw error on the child
• the remote process is not running a TTY, so it may be a bit different
• cwd is always forwarded and set appropriately

About the server

The server expose open and close method as expected.

Note that two alternative methods exists to close it.

via a socket

If you connect a socket on the server and send it a JSON packet

{
  "type": "close",
  "force": true
}

The close sequence will be invoked.

via a file

Alternatively it is possible to tell the server to watch for a specific file, containing a specific token to invoke its close sequence.

var server = ....

server.enableFileToQuit('file to watch', 'token to find in the file')

Why

It is used to spawn process on windows with elevated privileges, see here

Running the tests

To run the tests,

mocha

To run the tests against node.child_process api

LOCAL=true mocha