Unexpected result with series()

[franck-paul]

What were you expecting to happen?

Wish to have 3 tasks (prepare_pack, zip_pack, clean_pack) done with a 4th one (pack) using series(…)

• Task 1, prepare_pack: create a folder with some files/sub-folders
• Task 2, zip_pack: zip the previous folder to another place
• Task 3, clean_pack: remove the folder created in Task 1

What actually happened?

Each run give me a different result.

At 1st run, only Task 1 seems to have a good result, the new folder is created.

At 2nd run, I got an error (see below)

At 3rd run, I got a badly formed zip archive from previous folder where some files are missing.

If I run each task separately, the result is as expected.

My gulpfile.js

'use strict';

const gulp = require('gulp');
const { series } = require('gulp');

const del = require('del');
const zip = require('gulp-zip');

const pjson = require('./package.json');

// …

// Paths
const paths = {
  dist: 'dist',
  pack: 'package'
};

// Package elements
const elements = ['*.php', 'LICENSE', 'README.md', 'tpl/*', 'dist/*', '!dist/*.map', 'locales/**/*'];

// …

// Package build
function prepare_pack (done) {
  gulp
    .src(elements, { base: '.' })
    .pipe(gulp.dest(pjson.module + '-' + pjson.name + '-' + pjson.version + '/' + pjson.name));
  done();
}
exports.prepare_pack = series(prepare_pack);

function zip_pack (done) {
  gulp
    .src(pjson.module + '-' + pjson.name + '-' + pjson.version + '/**/*')
    .pipe(zip(pjson.module + '-' + pjson.name + '-' + pjson.version + '.zip'))
    .pipe(gulp.dest(paths.pack));
  done();
}
exports.zip_pack = series(zip_pack);

function clean_pack (done) {
  del('./' + pjson.module + '-' + pjson.name + '-' + pjson.version);
  done();
}
exports.clean_pack = series(clean_pack);

exports.pack = series(prepare_pack, zip_pack, clean_pack);

Terminal output / screenshots

$ gulp pack
[17:04:07] Using gulpfile ~/Documents/EGO/Geekeries/Internet/htdocs/git-themes/ensemble/gulpfile.js
[17:04:07] Starting 'pack'...
[17:04:07] Starting 'prepare_pack'...
[17:04:07] Finished 'prepare_pack' after 7.22 ms
[17:04:07] Starting 'zip_pack'...
[17:04:07] Finished 'zip_pack' after 2.73 ms
[17:04:07] Starting 'clean_pack'...
[17:04:07] Finished 'clean_pack' after 1.23 ms
[17:04:07] Finished 'pack' after 13 ms

But only prepare_pack ran, then

$ gulp pack
[17:05:14] Using gulpfile ~/Documents/EGO/Geekeries/Internet/htdocs/git-themes/ensemble/gulpfile.js
[17:05:14] Starting 'pack'...
[17:05:14] Starting 'prepare_pack'...
[17:05:14] Finished 'prepare_pack' after 8.18 ms
[17:05:14] Starting 'zip_pack'...
[17:05:14] Finished 'zip_pack' after 2.87 ms
[17:05:14] Starting 'clean_pack'...
[17:05:14] Finished 'clean_pack' after 1.12 ms
[17:05:14] Finished 'pack' after 14 ms
events.js:292
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^
Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/Users/me/Documents/EGO/Geekeries/Internet/htdocs/git-themes/ensemble/theme-ensemble-1.0/ensemble/_define.php'
Emitted 'error' event on Domain instance at:
    at DestroyableTransform.EventEmitter.emit (domain.js:517:12)
    at Pumpify.emit (events.js:315:20)
    at Pumpify.EventEmitter.emit (domain.js:467:12)
    at Pumpify.Duplexify._destroy (/Users/me/Documents/EGO/Geekeries/Internet/htdocs/git-themes/ensemble/node_modules/duplexify/index.js:191:15)
    at /Users/me/Documents/EGO/Geekeries/Internet/htdocs/git-themes/ensemble/node_modules/duplexify/index.js:182:10
    at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:75:11) {
  errno: -2,
  code: 'ENOENT',
  syscall: 'open',
  path: '/Users/me/Documents/EGO/Geekeries/Internet/htdocs/git-themes/ensemble/theme-ensemble-1.0/ensemble/_define.php',
  domainEmitter: DestroyableTransform {…
…

If I do:

$ gulp prepare_pack
$ gulp zip_pack
$ gulp clean_pack

Everything is allright.

Please provide the following information:

• Mac OS Big Sur 11.2.3
• node v14.16.0
• npm 7.7.6
• gulp CLI version: 2.3.0, Local version: 4.0.2

What am I doing wrong?

[phated]

Hey @franck-paul - I converted this to a Discussion because you are just asking for help and support questions belong here.

As for your issue, you are handling async completion incorrectly. The callback method is only used for node-style callback methods. If you are using gulp streams, you need to return your streams, as data is processed in chunks.

[franck-paul]

I'm not sure to understand exactly what I must do, but I will try to find some documentation about this…

Your documentation does not say so, as in this page: https://gulpjs.com/docs/en/getting-started/creating-tasks

[franck-paul]

The question is: how can I know if I must use stream or other things? I don't know and the documentation is not simple and detailed enough for a newbie like me.

[franck-paul]

So I stop using done(); at the end of function and use a return , from:

function zip_pack (done) {
  gulp
    .src(pjson.module + '-' + pjson.name + '-' + pjson.version + '/**/*')
    .pipe(zip(pjson.module + '-' + pjson.name + '-' + pjson.version + '.zip'))
    .pipe(gulp.dest(paths.pack));
  done();
}

I switch to:

function zip_pack() {
  return gulp
    .src(pjson.module + '-' + pjson.name + '-' + pjson.version + '/**/*')
    .pipe(zip(pjson.module + '-' + pjson.name + '-' + pjson.version + '.zip'))
    .pipe(gulp.dest(paths.pack));
}

It works, I don't know why, but it works!