Support for module http2?

[jabrena]

Hi, I would like to know if Express 5.0 will have support for http2:
https://github.com/molnarg/node-http2

I was reading a bit and I noticed that exist a problem with http2 module:
molnarg/node-http2#100

I have tested in local and the problem continues:
https://github.com/jabrena/CloudFoundryLab/blob/master/Node_HelloWorld_http2_express/index.js

It this issue in the roadmap?
Does exist another alternative to run a express application with http2?

Many thanks in advance.

Juan Antonio

[jabrena]

I have just tested with latest release alpha (5.0.0-alpha.2) and the problem continues:

/*jslint node: true*/
"use strict";

var fs = require('fs');
var http2 = require('http2');
var express = require('express');

var app = express();
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
    console.log(req.headers);

    res.header('Content-type', 'text/html');
    return res.end('<h1>Hello, Secure World!</h1>');
});

var options = {
    key: fs.readFileSync('./certificate/localhost.key'),
    cert: fs.readFileSync('./certificate/localhost.crt')
};
var port = process.env.VCAP_APP_PORT || 8080;
http2.createServer(options, app).listen(port);

traces:

    dest.end();
         ^

TypeError: dest.end is not a function
    at Stream.onend (_stream_readable.js:490:10)
    at Stream.g (events.js:260:16)
    at emitNone (events.js:72:20)
    at Stream.emit (events.js:166:7)
    at endReadableNT (_stream_readable.js:893:12)
    at doNTCallback2 (node.js:429:9)
    at process._tickCallback (node.js:343:17)
23 Sep 12:15:24 - [nodemon] app crashed - waiting for file changes before starti
ng...

[dougwilson]

Hi! o answer your question, yes, it is a known issue, and no, has not yet been addressed. We have a link back to that referenced http2 issue (noted in molnarg/node-http2#100 (comment)) already to track this as well as it listed in our Express 5 roadmap (#2237):

Support non-core HTTP prototypes (e.g. http2, shot and others)

The 5.0 alpha 2 does not work because it has not been addressed yet. It is not a simple fix at all, and any help you want to provide toward this as part of a PR is much appreciated!

[dougwilson]

In addition, if all you want to do is replicate the Express routing with http2, the module router (https://github.com/pillarjs/router) is the actual Express 4.x router, extracted into it's own module and will work just fine with http2:

/*jslint node: true*/
"use strict";

var finalhandler = require('finalhandler');
var fs = require('fs');
var http2 = require('http2');
var Router = require('router');

var router = new Router();
router.get('/', function (req, res) {
    console.log(req.headers);

    res.setHeader('Content-type', 'text/html');
    return res.end('<h1>Hello, Secure World!</h1>');
});

var options = {
    key: fs.readFileSync('./certificate/localhost.key'),
    cert: fs.readFileSync('./certificate/localhost.crt')
};
var port = process.env.VCAP_APP_PORT || 8080;
http2.createServer(options, app).listen(port);

function app(req, res) {
    router(req, res, finalhandler(req, res));
}

[jabrena]

Hi @dougwilson, if you provide some technical documentation to check that classes, I could help you to begin fixing this issue. Tomorrow, I will test the alternative.

[dougwilson]

Hi @jabrena , I'm not sure what kind of technical documentation you are looking for. All Express documentation is located at http://expressjs.com/ and anything technical is gathered from reading the JavaScript source code of Express.

[jabrena]

No problem, will try to check this part:

Prototype = req.__proto__; 
req.__proto__ = app.request; app.request.__proto__ = originalPrototype; 

it is a clue from a comment in:
molnarg/node-http2#100

Besides, I will compare current router with the router that runs with http2

Juan Antonio

[listepo]

@jabrena , @dougwilson why not https://github.com/indutny/node-spdy?

With this module you can create HTTP2 / SPDY