Step "compiling using electron-compile" fails after upgrading from 20.15 to 20.16 and up

• Version: 20.17.0

• Target: all

The build was working correctly, but after upgrading electron-builder to 20.16 or 20.17 the build fails with the details below. Nothing else has changed.

  compiling using electron-compile
  ⨯ nodeModules.Dependency.Dependencies: ReadMapCB: expect { or n, but found [, error found in #10 byte of ...|ncies" : [],
	"repos|..., bigger context ...|://www.josscrowcroft.com)"
	],
	"dependencies" : [],
	"repository" : {"type": "git", "url": "git://g|...
github.com/develar/app-builder/pkg/nodeModules.readPackageJson
	/Users/develar/go/src/github.com/develar/app-builder/pkg/nodeModules/tree.go:302
github.com/develar/app-builder/pkg/nodeModules.(*Collector).resolveDependency
	/Users/develar/go/src/github.com/develar/app-builder/pkg/nodeModules/tree.go:226
github.com/develar/app-builder/pkg/nodeModules.(*Collector).readDependencyTree
	/Users/develar/go/src/github.com/develar/app-builder/pkg/nodeModules/tree.go:177
github.com/develar/app-builder/pkg/nodeModules.ConfigureCommand.func1
	/Users/develar/go/src/github.com/develar/app-builder/pkg/nodeModules/tree.go:30
github.com/develar/app-builder/vendor/github.com/alecthomas/kingpin.(*actionMixin).applyActions
	/Users/develar/go/src/github.com/develar/app-builder/vendor/github.com/alecthomas/kingpin/actions.go:28
github.com/develar/app-builder/vendor/github.com/alecthomas/kingpin.(*Application).applyActions
	/Users/develar/go/src/github.com/develar/app-builder/vendor/github.com/alecthomas/kingpin/app.go:557
github.com/develar/app-builder/vendor/github.com/alecthomas/kingpin.(*Application).execute
	/Users/develar/go/src/github.com/develar/app-builder/vendor/github.com/alecthomas/kingpin/app.go:390
github.com/develar/app-builder/vendor/github.com/alecthomas/kingpin.(*Application).Parse
	/Users/develar/go/src/github.com/develar/app-builder/vendor/github.com/alecthomas/kingpin/app.go:222
main.main
	/Users/develar/go/src/github.com/develar/app-builder/main.go:60
runtime.main
	/usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10.3/libexec/src/runtime/proc.go:198
runtime.goexit
	/usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10.3/libexec/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:2361

Error: /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/app-builder-bin/mac/app-builder exited with code 1
    at ChildProcess.childProcess.once.code (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/builder-util/src/util.ts:251:14)
    at Object.onceWrapper (events.js:317:30)
    at emitTwo (events.js:126:13)
    at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:214:7)
    at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:925:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:209:5)
From previous event:
    at copyNodeModules (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/out/util/AppFileCopierHelper.js:342:18)
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/platformPackager.ts:261:42
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
From previous event:
    at then (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/platformPackager.ts:257:14)
From previous event:
    at _computeFileSets (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/platformPackager.ts:258:10)
    at MacPackager.copyAppFiles (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/platformPackager.ts:280:27)
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/platformPackager.ts:214:10
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
    at runCallback (timers.js:794:20)
    at tryOnImmediate (timers.js:752:5)
    at processImmediate [as _immediateCallback] (timers.js:729:5)
From previous event:
    at MacPackager.doPack (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/platformPackager.ts:162:151)
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/macPackager.ts:87:63
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
From previous event:
    at MacPackager.pack (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/macPackager.ts:79:95)
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/packager.ts:379:24
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
    at xfs.stat (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/fs-extra-p/node_modules/fs-extra/lib/mkdirs/mkdirs.js:56:16)
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/graceful-fs/polyfills.js:287:18
    at FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:153:5)
From previous event:
    at Packager.doBuild (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/packager.ts:347:39)
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/packager.ts:323:52
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js:99:16
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js:43:10
    at FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:135:15)
From previous event:
    at Packager._build (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/packager.ts:300:133)
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/packager.ts:296:23
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
    at runCallback (timers.js:794:20)
    at tryOnImmediate (timers.js:752:5)
    at processImmediate [as _immediateCallback] (timers.js:729:5)
From previous event:
    at Packager.build (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/packager.ts:254:14)
    at /Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/src/index.ts:51:40
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
From previous event:
    at build (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder-lib/out/index.js:220:17)
    at build (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder/src/builder.ts:234:10)
    at then (/Users/rvanmil/myelectronapp/node_modules/electron-builder/src/cli/cli.ts:46:19)
    at <anonymous>
error Command failed with exit code 1.

[rvanmil]

I found the source of the problem. My project contains a dependency to a module (https://www.npmjs.com/package/accounting) which specifies "dependencies" : [], in its package.json. Which is invalid because dependencies must be an object, not an array. I’ll contact the module author to fix this.

[cyntler]

@rvanmil, thanks for explanation! 😃