latest node-simctl breaks appium with an error "Cannot read property 'async' of undefined"

The problem

Reinstalling appium breaks the workflow. This is an example error produced when running tests:

[XCUITest] TypeError: Cannot read property 'async' of undefined
[XCUITest]     at getDevices (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/node-simctl/build/lib/simctl.js:1094:30)
[XCUITest]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/lib/simulator-management.js:34:25
[XCUITest]     at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
[XCUITest]     at asyncGeneratorStep (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:3:24)
[XCUITest]     at _next (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:25:9)
[XCUITest]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:32:7
[XCUITest]     at new Promise (<anonymous>)
[XCUITest]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:21:12
[XCUITest]     at _getExistingSim (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/build/lib/simulator-management.js:94:26)
[XCUITest]     at getExistingSim (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/build/lib/simulator-management.js:47:26)
[XCUITest]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/lib/driver.js:716:24
[XCUITest]     at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
[XCUITest]     at asyncGeneratorStep (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:3:24)
[XCUITest]     at _next (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:25:9)
[XCUITest]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:32:7
[XCUITest]     at new Promise (<anonymous>)
[XCUITest]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:21:12
[XCUITest]     at XCUITestDriver.determineDevice (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/lib/driver.js:673:28)
[XCUITest]     at determineDevice (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/lib/driver.js:254:51)
[XCUITest]     at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
[XCUITest]     at asyncGeneratorStep (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:3:24)
[XCUITest]     at _next (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:25:9)
[MJSONWP] Encountered internal error running command: TypeError: Cannot read property 'async' of undefined
[MJSONWP]     at getDevices (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/node-simctl/build/lib/simctl.js:1094:30)
[MJSONWP]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/lib/simulator-management.js:34:25
[MJSONWP]     at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
[MJSONWP]     at asyncGeneratorStep (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:3:24)
[MJSONWP]     at _next (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:25:9)
[MJSONWP]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:32:7
[MJSONWP]     at new Promise (<anonymous>)
[MJSONWP]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:21:12
[MJSONWP]     at _getExistingSim (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/build/lib/simulator-management.js:94:26)
[MJSONWP]     at getExistingSim (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/build/lib/simulator-management.js:47:26)
[MJSONWP]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/lib/driver.js:716:24
[MJSONWP]     at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
[MJSONWP]     at asyncGeneratorStep (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:3:24)
[MJSONWP]     at _next (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:25:9)
[MJSONWP]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:32:7
[MJSONWP]     at new Promise (<anonymous>)
[MJSONWP]     at /Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:21:12
[MJSONWP]     at XCUITestDriver.determineDevice (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/lib/driver.js:673:28)
[MJSONWP]     at determineDevice (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/lib/driver.js:254:51)
[MJSONWP]     at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
[MJSONWP]     at asyncGeneratorStep (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:3:24)
[MJSONWP]     at _next (/Users/distiller/project/node_modules/@babel/runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:25:9)

Fixing node-simctl to version 3.16.0 fixes the issue. Installing node-simctl@3.17.0 reproduces the issue again.

Environment

• Appium version (or git revision) that exhibits the issue: 1.8.1 and up
• Last Appium version that did not exhibit the issue (if applicable): Not applicable
• Desktop OS/version used to run Appium: OS X

Details

Extra question - Appium package seems to be very prone to breaking from updated dependencies. Is there any reason not to fix dependency versions so that it doesn’t break out of the blue? I see that for node-simctl the package.json is specifying the following range:

        "from": "node-simctl@>=3.11.5 <4.0.0",

Why not fix it to something?

Thank you.

[dpgraham]

I just went ahead and unpublished 3.17.0 given that something I did in the publish yesterday obviously broke it. I’ll dig into it some more and then publish a new version shortly.

@seavan There’s a bug in Appium 1.8 (when using npm@5) that causes shrinkwrap to be ignored, and that’s why it’s installing the latest versions of packages. I would recommend that you should either upgrade to 1.9 or install 1.8 with npm@3

[lock[bot]]

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