Node version issues in build of coffee editor

[glsp-bot]

I'm cloning coffee editor to create a new application. I'm starting by creating a build environment based on the coffee editor structure, but eliminating capabilities I don't need like C++ generation and analysis. I got most of the kinks worked out of this, but one remains when running ./run.sh -f to build the frontend. A lot of modules require node version 12, so I'm using that. But now the build complains that dugite-extra@0.1.12 needs a node version <12. I can't figure out where the build is coming up with the 0.1.12 version. I see it in the generated source, but I don't know what it's getting generated from. I have dugite-extra@0.1.14 installed via npm, but that's being ignored. I have Theia 1.16.0 installed. Is there some dependency being downloaded in the coffee editor frontend build that in turn has a buried reference to dugite-extra@0.1.12 perhaps? TIA.

original thread by GaryKopp

[eneufeld]

Hi @GaryKopp(garykopp) ,
Thank you for your interest in the coffee editor.
Unfortunately the coffee editor is currently running on Theia 1.2.0 .
We are in the process of updating to the latest Theia version.
The dugite dependency comes from the @Theia/git extension.
You can also try updating the resolutions section here: https://github.com/eclipse-emfcloud/coffee-editor/blob/master/web/package.json#L27

Best,
Eugen

[glsp-bot]

[GaryKopp]

Thanks Eugen. Just as a sanity check, what version of node should I be using to do a frontend build after I downgrade my Theia version?

[eneufeld]

Hi @GaryKopp(garykopp) ,
you could try using the Dockerbuild: https://github.com/eclipse-emfcloud/coffee-editor/blob/master/Dockerfile as it hopefully is working.
In the docker build we use Node 10.

[glsp-bot]

[GaryKopp]

Thanks again. Using the Docker build defeats the purpose of creating a development environment for our Theia solution based on the coffee editor infrastructure. What I'm trying to do is establish a development infrastructure that gets back to the basics of building and deploying. So, I'm starting with command line builds of the web part of coffee, tweaked a bit to drop unnecessary code. To that end, I'm puzzled about a few things and I'm hoping you can straighten me out.

[glsp-bot]

[GaryKopp]

Firstly, I thought I should build the frontend with yarn, but I see in the top-level package.json there are scripts for lerna. But run.sh clearly uses yarn to build the web product, so what's the story with lerna? Next in looking at package.json at the top-level and package.json in the browser-app directory I notice some troubling things. The top-level package.json has correct (back-level) resolutions for theia, ansi-regex, and strip-ansi, which keeps the build compatible with node version 10. But package.json in the browser-app directory re-specifies dependencies that are incompatible with those in the top-level. Specifically @Theia*=latest, strip-ansi=7.0.0, ansi-regex=6.0.0, source-map-loader=3.0.0, wrap-ansi=8.0.0, and string-width=5.0.0. I believe all of those versions require node 12, and I think that's what causing my builds to croak. What's up with that?

[glsp-bot]

[GaryKopp]

I have confirmed that my build problem was indeed caused by web/package.json containing dependencies on the incorrect versions of the modules I listed above. I changed the dependencies to select versions compatible with node 10 (as in the top-level build) and the build proceeded without the previous errors. However, there is a serious problem with one TypeScript file, and I'll post about that separately.

[eneufeld]

Hi @GaryKopp(garykopp) ,
so as already mentioned we are in the process of updating the coffee editor.
This outstanding update is the reason for the incompatible versions.
About yarn vs lerna. You need both. Lerna is needed as the coffee-editor is setup as a monorepo.
The reason is that we have the 'browser-app' which is one project. Then we have all the custom extensions which are also standalone projects.
So on the root you use yarn to trigger lerna which in turn triggers yarn in each individual project. Then lerna links the different projects allowing you to consume the development state without publishing it eg to npm

[glsp-bot]

[GaryKopp]

A belated thanks for clarifying this. It does indeed help me understand your packaging environment. Sorry for the late reply. I was so concentrated on watching my latest message for a reply that I never bothered to scroll down :-(