Spinner crashes CI build because process.stdout.columns === 0

[kubijo]

Expected Behavior

spinner shouldn't throw errors

Actual Behavior

/tmp/gitlab/builds/xrEFg3V1/0/pool/frontend/.yarn/cache/zx-npm-7.2.1-dc2fa8860f-372e9ef8fc.zip/node_modules/zx/build/goods.js:167
            process.stderr.write(' '.repeat(process.stdout.columns - 1) + '\r');
                                     ^
RangeError: Invalid count value: -1
    at String.repeat (<anonymous>)
    at <anonymous> (/tmp/gitlab/builds/xrEFg3V1/0/pool/frontend/.yarn/cache/zx-npm-7.2.1-dc2fa8860f-372e9ef8fc.zip/node_modules/zx/build/goods.js:167:38)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
Node.js v19.8.1

the offending code:

finally {
    clearInterval(id);
    process.stderr.write(' '.repeat(process.stdout.columns - 1) + '\r');
}

Apparently, the process.stdout.columns is 0 when running in GitLab CI through the NIX script runner & the script utility.

I don't know which part of the stack causes the columns value to be 0, but I suppose script would be the best bet.
I'm using this to force NIX to preserve colors, of my build scripts.

To fix this, I'D propose to Math.max the computed repetition value to 0 at https://github.com/google/zx/blob/main/src/goods.ts#L201

Specifications

• Version: 7.2.1
• Platform: Linux

[antonmedv]

Zx should disable spinner in its not tty.

[kubijo]

That is perhaps true, but as mentioned in the ticket, it is being run in a pseudo-TTY supplied by script … because there is currently no other way to force NIX not to strip-out ANSI colors

[antonmedv]

So a check for column is number needed

[kubijo]

I suppose that it always will be through some sanity checks / defaults behavior of node, but it will be 0 … So, I would, as mentioned, just clamp the computed number to 0

[digitalkaoz]

i disabled the spinner in CI:

import { spinner as googleSpinner } from 'zx'

export async function spinner<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
  if (process.env.CI === 'true') {
    return fn()
  }
  return googleSpinner(fn)
}

@antonmedv is someone interested to add this functionality to zx itself?

[antonmedv]

I think yes.