Squirrel installer isn't created because author/description aren't set

Preflight Checklist

• I have read the contribution documentation for this project.
• I agree to follow the code of conduct that this project follows, as appropriate.
• I have searched the issue tracker for a bug that matches the one I want to file, without success.

Issue Details

• Electron Forge Version:
  • 6.0.0-beta.51
• Electron Version:
  • 8.2.5
• Operating System:
  • Windows 10 (1909)

Expected Behavior

electron-forge start and electron-forge make properly work as they supposed to do.

Actual Behavior

Following errors occur.

When I try electron-forge start by running npm start I get following error. I set DEBUG option.

 WARNING: DEBUG environment variable detected.  Progress indicators will be sent over electron-forge:lifecycle
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Started: Checking your system +0ms
  electron-forge:check-system checking system, create ~/.skip-forge-system-check to stop doing this +0ms
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Succeeded: Checking your system -- after 218ms +219ms
WARNING: DEBUG environment variable detected.  Progress indicators will be sent over electron-forge:lifecycle
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Started: Locating Application +0ms
  electron-forge:project-resolver searching for project in: C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207 +0ms
  electron-forge:project-resolver electron-forge compatible package.json found in C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\package.json +2ms   
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Succeeded: Locating Application -- after 12ms +13ms
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Started: Preparing native dependencies +6ms
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Renamed: Preparing native dependencies  -->  Preparing native dependencies: 0 / 1 +1s
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Renamed: Preparing native dependencies: 0 / 1  -->  Preparing native dependencies: 1 / 1 +1ms
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Succeeded: Preparing native dependencies: 1 / 1 -- after 1.3s +3ms
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Started: Launching Application +21ms
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Failed: Launching Application -- after 26ms +26ms

 An unhandled error has occurred inside Forge:
The "file" argument must be of type string. Received type object
TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "file" argument must be of type string. Received type object
    at validateString (internal/validators.js:113:11)
    at normalizeSpawnArguments (child_process.js:398:3)
    at spawn (child_process.js:538:13)
    at asyncFn (C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\node_modules\@electron-forge\core\src\api\start.ts:109:17)
    at C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\node_modules\@electron-forge\async-ora\src\ora-handler.ts:35:5
    at new Promise (<anonymous>)
    at asyncOra (C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\node_modules\@electron-forge\async-ora\src\ora-handler.ts:34:10)
    at forgeSpawn (C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\node_modules\@electron-forge\core\src\api\start.ts:108:11)
    at forgeSpawnWrapper (C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\node_modules\@electron-forge\core\src\api\start.ts:121:21)
    at C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\node_modules\@electron-forge\cli\src\electron-forge-start.ts:59:19
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! 0207@1.0.0 start: `electron-forge start`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the 0207@1.0.0 start script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\frmh0313\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2020-05-01T04_16_30_080Z-debug.log

And when I try electron-forge make, I get following error message on squirrel. I already checked issues on the errors related to squirrel, but I had no luck.

...
 electron-forge:async-ora Process Started: Making for target: squirrel - On platform: win32 - For arch: x64 +2ms
  electron-windows-installer:main Created NuSpec file:
  electron-windows-installer:main <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  electron-windows-installer:main <package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/packaging/2010/07/nuspec.xsd">
  electron-windows-installer:main   <metadata>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <id>0207</id>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <title>0207</title>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <version>1.0.0</version>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <authors></authors>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <owners></owners>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <iconUrl>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/atom/electron/master/atom/browser/resources/win/atom.ico</iconUrl>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <requireLicenseAcceptance>false</requireLicenseAcceptance>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <description></description>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <copyright>Copyright © 2020 </copyright>
  electron-windows-installer:main   </metadata>
  electron-windows-installer:main   <files>
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="locales\**" target="lib\net45\locales" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="resources\**" target="lib\net45\resources" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="*.bin" target="lib\net45" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="*.dll" target="lib\net45" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="*.pak" target="lib\net45" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="*.exe.config" target="lib\net45" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="*.exe.sig" target="lib\net45" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="icudtl.dat" target="lib\net45\icudtl.dat" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="Squirrel.exe" target="lib\net45\squirrel.exe" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="LICENSE" target="lib\net45\LICENSE" />
  electron-windows-installer:main     <file src="0207.exe" target="lib\net45\0207.exe" />
  electron-windows-installer:main   </files>
  electron-windows-installer:main </package>
  electron-windows-installer:main  +0ms
  electron-windows-installer:spawn Spawning C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\node_modules\electron-winstaller\vendor\nuget.exe pack C:\Users\frmh0313\AppData\Local\Temp\si-202041-30232-1k1c105.xb01\0207.nuspec -BasePath C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\out\0207-win32-x64 -OutputDirectory C:\Users\frmh0313\AppData\Local\Temp\si-202041-30232-1k1c105.xb01 -NoDefaultExcludes +0ms
  electron-forge:async-ora Process Failed: Making for target: squirrel - On platform: win32 - For arch: x64 -- after 262ms +262ms

An unhandled error has occurred inside Forge:
An error occured while making for target: squirrel
Failed with exit code: 1
Output:
Attempting to build package from '0207.nuspec'.
Authors is required.
Description is required.

Error: Failed with exit code: 1
Output:
Attempting to build package from '0207.nuspec'.
Authors is required.
Description is required.

    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (C:\Users\frmh0313\Desktop\RA\0207\node_modules\electron-winstaller\src\spawn-promise.ts:52:16)
    at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:210:5)
    at ChildProcess.EventEmitter.emit (domain.js:478:20)
    at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:1028:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:283:5)
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1

Additional Information

I imported my project to use electron-forge. I tried deleting and reinstalling node_modules several times, which didn’t work. And electron-forge package is working. And when I try npm run _start below, it properly works.

My package.json file

{
  "name": "0207",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "./dist/electron.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "electron-forge start",
    "_start": "npm run build && electron ./dist/electron.js",
    "build": "npm run rebuild && webpack --config ./webpack.config.js",
    "rebuild": "electron-rebuild -f -w sqlite3",
    "execute": "electron ./dist/electron.js",
    "debug": ".",
    "package": "electron-forge package",
    "make": "electron-forge make"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {
    "@electron-forge/cli": "6.0.0-beta.51",
    "@electron-forge/maker-deb": "6.0.0-beta.51",
    "@electron-forge/maker-rpm": "6.0.0-beta.51",
    "@electron-forge/maker-squirrel": "6.0.0-beta.51",
    "@electron-forge/maker-zip": "6.0.0-beta.51",
    "@types/knex": "^0.16.1",
    "@types/node": "^13.13.4",
    "@types/prop-types": "^15.7.3",
    "@types/qs": "^6.9.1",
    "@types/react": "^16.9.19",
    "@types/react-dom": "^16.9.5",
    "@types/react-redux": "^7.1.7",
    "@types/react-router": "^5.1.4",
    "@types/react-router-dom": "^5.1.3",
    "@types/sequelize": "^4.28.8",
    "@types/sqlite3": "^3.1.6",
    "concurrently": "^5.1.0",
    "crypto": "^1.0.1",
    "css-loader": "^3.4.2",
    "electron": "^8.2.5",
    "electron-devtools-installer": "^2.2.4",
    "electron-is-dev": "^1.1.0",
    "electron-prebuilt-compile": "8.2.0",
    "html-webpack-plugin": "^3.2.0",
    "knex": "^0.20.9",
    "react": "^16.12.0",
    "react-dom": "^16.12.0",
    "react-router": "^5.1.2",
    "react-router-dom": "^5.1.2",
    "style-loader": "^1.1.3",
    "ts-loader": "^6.2.1",
    "typescript": "^3.7.5",
    "typings-for-css-modules-loader": "^1.7.0",
    "wait-on": "^4.0.0",
    "webpack": "^4.41.5",
    "webpack-cli": "^3.3.10"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@ag-grid-community/all-modules": "^22.1.1",
    "@ant-design/icons": "^4.1.0",
    "ag-grid-community": "^23.0.2",
    "ag-grid-react": "^23.0.3",
    "antd": "^4.1.5",
    "async-csv": "^2.1.3",
    "axios": "^0.19.2",
    "csv-parser": "^2.3.2",
    "csv-writer": "^1.6.0",
    "electron-better-ipc": "^1.0.0",
    "electron-promise-ipc": "^2.1.0",
    "electron-rebuild": "^1.10.0",
    "electron-squirrel-startup": "^1.0.0",
    "electron-window-manager": "^1.0.6",
    "node-abi": "^2.16.0",
    "prop-types": "^15.7.2",
    "qs": "^6.9.3",
    "react-redux": "^7.2.0",
    "redux": "^4.0.5",
    "redux-actions": "^2.6.5",
    "redux-devtools-extension": "^2.13.8",
    "redux-logger": "^3.0.6",
    "redux-thunk": "^2.3.0",
    "redux-undo": "^1.0.1",
    "sqlite3": "^4.1.1",
    "string-similarity": "^4.0.1",
    "typesafe-actions": "^5.1.0",
    "xlsx": "^0.15.5"
  },
  "config": {
    "forge": {
      "packagerConfig": {},
      "makers": [
        {
          "name": "@electron-forge/maker-squirrel",
          "config": {
            "name": "0207"
          }
        },
        {
          "name": "@electron-forge/maker-zip",
          "platforms": [
            "darwin"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "@electron-forge/maker-deb",
          "config": {}
        },
        {
          "name": "@electron-forge/maker-rpm",
          "config": {}
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Thank you in advance.

[tenCaptainStreet]

In your package.json file, you just have to fill the Author and Description properties which are currently empty 😃

[erickzhao]

Hey, I’ve add this to the docs so that people don’t have to dig too deep for the workarounds.

https://github.com/electron-forge/electron-forge-docs/commit/1735d10dde95ce889e6872ba10d46b7c5baaf860