Electron-forge: Ignore does not take globs

[kzimny]

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

Please describe your issue:
I want to exclude some folders from electron-forge package compilation. The /dist/ folder is mostly empty, followed the instruction https://www.electron.build/file-patterns i want to exclude empty folder /dist/, another not empty folders and some files as follows:

            "electronPackagerConfig": {
                "packageManager": "npm",
                "afterExtract": [
                    "crv/build-scripts/afterExtract.js"
                ],
                "asar":  true,
                "overwrite": true,
                "ignore": [
                    "/apps/",
                    "/dist${/*}",
                    "/libs/",
                    "/out/",
                    "/out-tsc/",
                    "/scripts/",
                    "/styles/",
                    "/themes/",
                    "/angular.json",
                    "/package-lock.json",
                    "/tsconfig.json",
                    "/tslint.json",
                    "/.editorconfig",
                    "/.gitignore",
                    "/README.md"
                ]
            },

The compiler throws an error:

Console output when you run electron-forge with the environment variable DEBUG=electron-forge:*. (Instructions on how to do so here). Please include the stack trace if one exists.

> [email protected] electron-package-debug-win C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA
> set DEBUG=electron-forge:* & electron-forge package

WARNING: DEBUG environment variable detected.  Progress indicators will be sent over electron-forge:lifecycle
  electron-forge:lifecycle Process Started: Checking your system +0ms
  electron-forge:lifecycle Process Succeeded: Checking your system +2s
  electron-forge:runtime-config setting key: verbose to value: false +0ms
WARNING: DEBUG environment variable detected.  Progress indicators will be sent over electron-forge:lifecycle
  electron-forge:lifecycle Process Started: Preparing to Package Application for arch: x64 +0ms
  electron-forge:project-resolver searching for project in: C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA +0ms
  electron-forge:project-resolver electron-forge compatible package.json found in C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\package.json +6ms

An unhandled rejection has occurred inside Forge:
Invalid or unexpected token
SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token
    at Function (<anonymous>)
    at C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\lodash.template\index.js:1089:12
    at apply (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\lodash.template\index.js:74:25)
    at C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\lodash.template\index.js:1126:12
    at apply (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\lodash.template\index.js:76:25)
    at C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\lodash.template\index.js:317:12
    at template (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\lodash.template\index.js:1088:16)
    at C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-forge\dist\util\forge-config.js:142:46
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at template (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-forge\dist\util\forge-config.js:138:32)
    at C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-forge\dist\util\forge-config.js:140:11
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at template (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-forge\dist\util\forge-config.js:138:32)
    at C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-forge\dist\util\forge-config.js:140:11
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at template (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-forge\dist\util\forge-config.js:138:32)
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! [email protected] electron-package-debug-win: `set DEBUG=electron-forge:* & electron-forge package`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] electron-package-debug-win 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\Krzysztof\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2019-06-04T14_20_33_012Z-debug.log

What command line arguments are you passing?

Put the arguments here

What does your config.forge data in package.json look like?

    "config": {
        "forge": {
            "make_targets": {
                "win32": [
                    "squirrel"
                ],
                "darwin": [
                    "zip"
                ],
                "linux": [
                    "deb",
                    "rpm"
                ]
            },
            "electronPackagerConfig": {
                "packageManager": "npm",
                "afterExtract": [
                    "crv/build-scripts/afterExtract.js"
                ],
                "asar":  true,
                "overwrite": true,
                "ignore": [
                    "/apps/",
                    "/dist${/*}",
                    "/libs/",
                    "/out/",
                    "/out-tsc/",
                    "/scripts/",
                    "/styles/",
                    "/themes/",
                    "/angular.json",
                    "/package-lock.json",
                    "/tsconfig.json",
                    "/tslint.json",
                    "/.editorconfig",
                    "/.gitignore",
                    "/README.md"
                ]
            },
            "electronWinstallerConfig": {
                "name": "crv"
            },
            "electronInstallerDebian": {},
            "electronInstallerRedhat": {},
            "github_repository": {
                "owner": "",
                "name": ""
            },
            "windowsStoreConfig": {
                "packageName": "",
                "name": "crv"
            }
        }
    },

Please provide either a failing minimal testcase (with a link to the code) or detailed steps to
reproduce your problem. Using electron-forge init is a good starting point, if that is not the
source of your problem.

When I change the /dist${/*} part to /dist/** in the config as follow:

                "ignore": [
                    "/apps/",
                    "/dist/**",
                    "/libs/",
                    "/out/",
                    "/out-tsc/",
                    "/scripts/",
                    "/styles/",
                    "/themes/",
                    "/angular.json",
                    "/package-lock.json",
                    "/tsconfig.json",
                    "/tslint.json",
                    "/.editorconfig",
                    "/.gitignore",
                    "/README.md"
                ]
            },

compiler throws the error:

> set DEBUG=electron-forge:* & electron-forge package

WARNING: DEBUG environment variable detected.  Progress indicators will be sent over electron-forge:lifecycle
  electron-forge:lifecycle Process Started: Checking your system +0ms
  electron-forge:lifecycle Process Succeeded: Checking your system +2s
  electron-forge:runtime-config setting key: verbose to value: false +0ms
WARNING: DEBUG environment variable detected.  Progress indicators will be sent over electron-forge:lifecycle
  electron-forge:lifecycle Process Started: Preparing to Package Application for arch: x64 +0ms
  electron-forge:project-resolver searching for project in: C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA +0ms
  electron-forge:project-resolver electron-forge compatible package.json found in C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\package.json +6ms
  electron-forge:require-search searching [ 'crv/build-scripts/afterExtract.js',
  'C:\\ZNF_SandBox2\\Mvc\\StorkCMS\\Stork.SPA\\crv\\build-scripts\\afterExtract.js',
  'C:\\ZNF_SandBox2\\Mvc\\StorkCMS\\Stork.SPA\\node_modules\\crv\\build-scripts\\afterExtract.js' ] relative to C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA +0ms
  electron-forge:require-search testing crv/build-scripts/afterExtract.js +4ms
  electron-forge:require-search testing C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\crv\build-scripts\afterExtract.js +2ms
  electron-forge:hook could not find hook: generateAssets +0ms
  electron-forge:hook could not find hook: prePackage +1ms
  electron-forge:packager packaging with options { asar: true,
  overwrite: true,
  packageManager: 'npm',
  afterExtract: [ [Function] ],
  ignore:
   [ '/apps/',
     '/dist/**',
     '/libs/',
     '/out/',
     '/out-tsc/',
     '/scripts/',
     '/styles/',
     '/themes/',
     '/angular.json',
     '/package-lock.json',
     '/tsconfig.json',
     '/tslint.json',
     '/.editorconfig',
     '/.gitignore',
     '/README.md' ],
  afterCopy: [ [Function] ],
  afterPrune: [ [Function] ],
  dir: 'C:\\ZNF_SandBox2\\Mvc\\StorkCMS\\Stork.SPA',
  arch: 'x64',
  platform: 'win32',
  out: 'C:\\ZNF_SandBox2\\Mvc\\StorkCMS\\Stork.SPA\\out',
  electronVersion: '4.0.0',
  quiet: true } +0ms
Database successfully copied!

An unhandled rejection has occurred inside Forge:
Invalid regular expression: //dist/**/: Nothing to repeat
SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression: //dist/**/: Nothing to repeat
    at String.match (<anonymous>)
    at ignore.some.regex (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-packager\ignore.js:65:41)
    at Array.some (<anonymous>)
    at filterByRegexes (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-packager\ignore.js:65:22)
    at Object.filter (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-packager\ignore.js:83:12)
    at handleFilter (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-packager\node_modules\fs-extra\lib\copy\copy.js:60:24)
    at Object.copy (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-packager\node_modules\fs-extra\lib\copy\copy.js:38:27)
    at Promise (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\universalify\index.js:13:12)
    at new Promise (<anonymous>)
    at Object.copy (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\universalify\index.js:7:14)
    at WindowsApp.copyTemplate (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-packager\platform.js:102:15)
    at fs.move.then (C:\ZNF_SandBox2\Mvc\StorkCMS\Stork.SPA\node_modules\electron-packager\platform.js:90:24)
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! [email protected] electron-package-debug-win: `set DEBUG=electron-forge:* & electron-forge package`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] electron-package-debug-win 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\Krzysztof\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2019-06-04T14_33_31_882Z-debug.log

How to exclude empty folders?

[malept]

followed the instruction https://www.electron.build/file-patterns

First off, that website is for electron-builder, not Electron Forge.

Secondly, per the Electron Packager API docs, ignore takes RegExps, not globs.

[kzimny]

Do you have an idea how to use RegExp in package.json? No example found in the provided link

"ignore": [
want to exclude empty folder(s)
]

Thank you!

[malept]

Since ignore also works for the Electron Packager CLI, Strings which are regular expressions are accepted.

[kzimny]

I can find the folder name with regular expression, but when the folder is empty exception is thrown:

SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression: //dist/**/: Nothing to repeat

Is there another way to exclude empty folders? Thanks.

[malept]

A couple of things:

• You don't need the leading and trailing /, that's only for RegExp literals.
• /dist/** is not a regular expression, it's a glob pattern. You want /dist/ which checks for the dist folder name. If that doesn't work, replace the last / with a $. For more information on JavaScript regular expressions, check out the MDN web docs: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/RegExp

[kzimny]

Thank you very much for your help. My final solution looks as follow:

                "ignore": [
                    "^(\/apps$)",
                    "^(\/dist$)",
                    "^(\/libs$)",
                    "^(\/out$)",
                    "^(\/out-tsc$)",
                    "^(\/scripts$)",
                    "^(\/styles$)",
                    "^(\/themes$)",
                    ".editorconfig",
                    ".gitignore",
                    "angular.json",
                    "package-lock.json",
                    "^(\/README.md$)",
                    "Stork.SPA.njsproj",
                    "Stork.SPA.njsproj.user",
                    "tsconfig.json",
                    "tslint.json"
                ]

It's important to take only the first folder in the hierarchy, otherwise all folders with the same name in node_modules are ignored. It was the big mistake in my attempts.