Electron ignores NODE_OPTIONS

[alexeykuzmin]

https://nodejs.org/api/cli.html#cli_node_options_options
Related to #12695.

[bpasero]

@alexeykuzmin with this, how can I trace deprecations in node.js? I need to pass over a flag such as --trace-deprecation to find out where a deprecated API is being used, such as:

[RyanHanekamp]

I would like to enable --experimental-modules for Node in Electron 3.0.x beta. I am intensely curious as to how this is going to work for renderer process modules. This entire can of worms is probably not yet ready for prime time, but I want to see how far I can go down this rabbit hole.

This issue prevents me from trying, unless there is another means by which to pass Node options that I haven't been able to google or find in the Electron documentation. Putting it into the Electron command line also has no effect.

[danielscottjames]

We have a fork of VSCode that starts Node as a new process instead of forking node, due to this issue. (We need to increase the memory allocated to forked node processes)
More details: microsoft/vscode#33524

[dotnetCarpenter]

This seems to have been implemented in #15259 electron 4.0. Is that correct? If yes, I guess this can be closed.

[dotnetCarpenter]

wait, what?

NODE_OPTIONS are explicitly disallowed in packaged apps.

https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/23d44e322d4265b925758103a7fb5802ebefae8c/docs/api/environment-variables.md#node_options

--experimental-modules are not useful if they can not be used after packaging the app.
Too bad for me but @RyanHanekamp perhaps it's enough to satisfy your curiosity.

[bpasero]

When I tested with Electron 4 I was able to use NODE_OPTIONS to print deprecations.

[dotnetCarpenter]

From what I understand from environment-variables.md, you can use most node flags but only during development. Which defeats the purpose of using --experimental-modules (import/export).

I have got around 30 files I need to run in Electron using that are using ES modules and now I have to transpile them before I can use them in Electron 4.0.

[stefaneidelloth]

I also would like to be able to use ES6 modules. First I faced the issue of mime type checking and now the issue of serving the files from the file system. Would be great if ES6 modules would just work in Electron. Some related issues:

• ES6 modules don't work in 2.0.0-beta.1 #12011
• electron ES module import in renderer not following esm package resolution standard-things/esm#387

[sofianguy]

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Electron better.

The version of Electron you reported this on has been superseded by newer releases.

If you're still experiencing this issue in Electron v4.2.x or later, please add a comment specifying the version you're testing with and any other new information that a maintainer trying to reproduce the issue should know.

I'm setting the blocked/need-info label for the above reasons. This issue will be closed 7 days from now if there is no response.

Thanks in advance! Your help is appreciated.

[TomasHubelbauer]

This is the top Google result for electron --experimental-modules. I think it would be useful to either show how to use ESM in the new Electron version here in a comment or point to a current issue dealing with using ESM modules in latest Electron.

[dotnetCarpenter]

@TomasHubelbauer The point of #13402 (comment) is that you can not use --experimental-modules with electron once you package it (e.i. your final app executable). The short answer is, electron does not support ESM.

NODE_OPTIONS are explicitly disallowed in packaged apps.

I'm unaware of any issues in this repo dealing with enabling --experimental-modules in electron. But perhaps you can create one?

PS. A quick search on "experimental-module" gave me #18540 and #14011.

[codebytere]

Closed by a0b9d47

[liximomo]

Why we can't use NODE_OPTIONS in a packaged app? I need to set --max-http-header-size which is the only way to fix Header overflow!

[flotwig]

Why we can't use NODE_OPTIONS in a packaged app? I need to set --max-http-header-size which is the only way to fix Header overflow!

@liximomo I've opened an issue specifically for --max-http-header-size here: #20831