Issue Repro Project

See PR #1922.

• Started with npx @nestjs/cli new nestjs-assets-hang-repro.
• Removed boilerplate service and controller.
• Added a single asset file.
• Switched to webpack.

For each commit in the repo, the obesrved behavior is expected: npx nest build & npx nest start both exit properly.

For the last commit with webpack configured, npx nest start no longer exits.

Test Cases

Command used: npx nest start [--watch]

• With tsc & no "watchAssets"
  • without --watch
    • starts up chokidar filewatcher
    • starts file copy before compilation (async without await)
    • assets copied at start-up only, assets not updated on watch
    • application exits
  • with --watch
    • starts up chokidar filewatcher
    • starts file copy before compilation (async without await)
    • assets copied at start-up only, assets not updated on watch
      • this includes after code changes that trigger a re-compile
    • application does not exit, in watch mode
• With tsc & top-level "watchAssets"
  • without --watch
    • same behavior as above
  • with --watch
    • starts up chokidar filewatcher
    • starts file copy before compilation (async without await)
    • assets copied at start-up, assets are updated on watch
    • application does not exit, in watch mode
• With webpack & no "watchAssets"
  • without --watch
    • same behavior as tsc case
    • bug does not exit after application exits, due to open chokidar watchers
  • with --watch
    • same behavior as tsc case
• With webpack & top-level "watchAssets"
  • without --watch
    • same behavior as above, including the bug
  • with --watch
    • same behavior as tsc case

The related PR #1922 intends to remove the bugs above and align webpack behavior with tsc behavior.