build: fix windows build if python is a bat file

[skomski]

Invoking a bat file without stopping requires call.

depot_tools uses a bat file which triggered this error.

[rvagg]

Hah, interesting. /cc @nodejs/platform-windows

Are you saying that depot_tools is using Node's vcbuild.bat? What for?

[skomski]

Are you saying that depot_tools is using Node's vcbuild.bat? What for?

No I installed depot_tools in my PATH which uses a python.bat.

[domenic]

I guess it's kind of harmless, but meh... a third party software installation has effed up, and now we have to work around it? :( Where does it stop---do we execute all executables with call?

I've gotten around this in the place by placing depot_tools/python_bin in my path directly.

[jbergstroem]

The downside here seems to be that call python doesn't work in powershell. FWIW, I'm -0 to this.

[skomski]

@domenic I would say python is a special case because of the history of hacks to handle multiple python versions and this change doesn't do any harm it simply makes it work for more people out-of-the-box and the overlap between depot_tools and node build users is most likely not low.

@jbergstroem It works when invoked from powershell because it just executes vcbuild.bat via cmd and vcbuild.bat already uses call multiple times. It would make sense to maybe in the future switch to a powershell script.

[orangemocha]

I guess it's kind of harmless, but meh... a third party software installation has effed up, and now we have to work around it? :( Where does it stop---do we execute all executables with call?

I kind of agree with that statement.

Would invoking python**.exe** explicitly in vcbuild.bat solve the issue?

[skomski]

Would invoking python.exe explicitly in vcbuild.bat solve the issue?

No.

I don't know why there is such a resistance against this simple change.

• Doesn't make the code harder to read rather makes it clear that it is calling a blocking subprocess
• Doesn't break any existing setup
• One third-party software didn't eff up rather it is normal setup to use a bat file for python to call the correct python version
• It is hyperbole to say where does it stop because python is a special case

It just works for more people out-of-the-box without any fiddling.

[orangemocha]

One third-party software didn't eff up rather it is normal setup to use a bat file for python to call the correct python version

I disagree. Creating that batch file is ok, but the moment you add it to the system path, it's bound to interfere with other software.

The resistance, at least on my part, is because this is not a bug in Node. Even if we change those lines to use call, we have no way of enforcing that future additional invocations of python will be done that way. It sounds like you'd be better off fixing the problem on your end.

[skomski]

Well, I guess back to node.js policies. 🃏