NODE_PATH does not work

[inyono]

We are using NODE_PATH=. in our app to improve local require(). AVA (version 0.11.0) has problems with it, though.

flat-file structure:

// foo/index.js
export const foo = 'bar'

// test/foo.js
import test from 'ava'

import { foo } from 'foo'

test('foo should be bar', t => {
  t.same(foo, 'bar')
})

> NODE_PATH=. ava

  1 failed

  1. foo should be bar

  t.same(foo, 'bar')
         |
         undefined

  AssertionError: undefined === 'bar'
    Test.fn (test/foo.js:6:5)

nested-file structure

// foo/bar/index.js
export const foo = 'bar'

// test/foo.js
import test from 'ava'

import { foo } from 'foo/bar'

test('foo should be bar', t => {
  t.same(foo, 'bar')
})

> NODE_PATH=. ava

Error: Cannot find module 'foo/bar'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:338:15)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:289:25)
    at Module.require (module.js:366:17)
    at require (module.js:385:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/inyono/Projects/flitt/test/foo.js:9:12)
    at Module._compile (module.js:435:26)
    at Object.extensions.(anonymous function) [as .js] (/Users/inyono/Projects/flitt/node_modules/ava/node_modules/require-precompiled/index.js:13:11)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:313:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:366:17)
    at require (module.js:385:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/inyono/Projects/flitt/node_modules/ava/lib/test-worker.js:85:1)
    at Module._compile (module.js:435:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:442:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:313:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:467:10)
    at startup (node.js:136:18)
    at node.js:963:3

  ✖ test/foo.js exited with a non-zero exit code: 1

[jamestalmage]

Conclusion #4 from that article:

Setting application-specific settings as environment variables globally or in your current shell is an anti-pattern

That said, not sure why this would not work. The NODE_PATH environment variable must be being ignored somehow.

[inyono]

I'm not super happy with the NODE_PATH solution myself, but it fits our use case quite well (especially ES6 modules hinder some other viable solutions). We didn't run into problems with mocha though.

If it's a beginner-friendly issue, I'd be glad to help.

[jamestalmage]

If it's a beginner-friendly issue

I honestly don't know if it is. Feel free to give it a go. I would start by checking that neither this bit or require-precompiled are the problem.

[inyono]

I will give it a shot tomorrow, thanks for the pointers.

[ingro]

I'm stuck with the same problem, @inyono did you find a workaround or the cause of this issue?

[ingro]

I think I've got something, as @jamestalmage suggested inside test-worker.js module:

module.constructor._nodeModulePaths = function () {
    var ret = oldNodeModulesPaths.apply(this, arguments);
    ret.push(nodeModulesDir);
    return ret;
};

Seems like ret doesn't contain the additional paths specified with the NODE_PATH env variable:

[ 'D:\\projects\\app\\node_modules\\babel-core\\node_modules',
  'D:\\projects\\app\\node_modules',
  'D:\\projects\\node_modules',
  'D:\\node_modules',
  'D:\\projects\\app\\node_modules\\ava\\node_modules' ]

I tried naively to do this:

module.constructor._nodeModulePaths = function () {
    var ret = oldNodeModulesPaths.apply(this, arguments);
    ret.push(nodeModulesDir);
    if (process.env.NODE_PATH) {
        const additionalPath = path.join(process.cwd(), process.env.NODE_PATH);
        ret.push(additionalPath);
    }
    return ret;
};

But the problem is that process.cwd() points to the directory where the test file is, and not on the root of my application, so that didn't work.

A ugly solution could be to seth NODE_PATH as absolute but that would have a lot of downsides. I did not fully understand how the code inside test-worker.js gets invoked, if someone can clarify it maybe the solution could be at hand.

[inyono]

Yeah, I it works with absolute paths. Considering https://gist.github.com/branneman/8048520#6-the-hack, I looked into _initPaths(), but initPaths() also works with the relative path and does not create an absolute one...

[inyono]

Seems like cwd is set here: https://github.com/sindresorhus/ava/blob/master/lib/fork.js#L20

[inyono]

See PR. I found a fix that at least works in my minimal example. Because I have failing tests in both my branch and on master, I guess I did something wrong, though ;)

[ingro]

I tried another approach, hope one of them could be merged :)