Grpc-node: Add support for electron v8

[ArcticTee]

Problem description

I want to use grpc with electron v8.2.5 (stable).
But when I am running "postinstall": "npm rebuild grpc --target=8.2.5 --runtime=electron"

I get this error:

Pre-built binaries not found for [email protected] and [email protected] (electron-v8.2 ABI, unknown) (falling back to source compile with node-gyp)

If do not rebuild I get the error mentioned in #6138

[Error: .../node_modules/grpc/src/node/extension_binary/grpc_node.node: undefined symbol: GENERAL_NAME_free]

Environment

• OS name, version and architecture: macOS Catalina 10.15.3
• Node version v12.13.0
• Node installation method yarn / lerna
• Package name and version [email protected]

Additional context

related to

• #989 Electron v6 and gRPC error
• #1235 Publish build for electron 7.1
• #6138 Error running gRPC greeter example with electron

Is there any workaround? Or is the release of v1.25.0 near?

[josiahruddell]

For real; if gRPC node isn't going to support electron any longer it would be informative to know. Electron v5 was the last version with gRPC prebuilt. Countless CI build hours wasted.

[murgatroid99]

I am working on this. I think I can get a new release out soon with the new binary files, including the ones for Electron.

[manu-st]

Hi @murgatroid99. Could we also do it for Electron v9 that was just released?

[murgatroid99]

Yes, the Electron 9 binaries will go out at the same time.

[danst3in]

What is the most recent version of electron it is working with? When I was using gRPC previously I had success at Electron 7.0.1, but I am now trying to move to @grpc/grpc-js to convert the app to TypeScript. Would love to know before I get way down a rabbit hole. Thanks!

[murgatroid99]

I believe that the latest version of Electron that grpc works with is in fact 7.0.x. As far as I know, @grpc/grpc-js works with all recent versions of Electron.

[ConorEB]

Hello! We are very excited for the Electron 9 binaries. Do you have a general timeline on when they are expected to release?

[murgatroid99]

I'm hoping to get them out this week, but it might be next week.

[duhruh]

okay I found a very hack-y workaround, So it seems the current build is working, i just don't believe it's uploading correctly. So if you're like me and you don't mind doing a bit of hackery until this is fixed for real you can just download the artifact directly from github actions

this is the one i used for electron 8.3 windows 64:
https://github.com/grpc/grpc-node/suites/742611080/artifacts/7641115

once you download that then create the folder

node_modules\grpc\src\node\extension_binary\electron-v8.3-win32-x64-unknown

and place the grpc_node.node file you extracted from the artifact in there.

This worked for me.

[keegan-lillo]

Looks like [email protected] adds support for electron 9! Thanks for the hard work everyone. Looking forward to finally being able to update.

[murgatroid99]

As mentioned, [email protected] has support for Electron 8 and 9.

@duhruh The binaries appear to have been uploaded successfully on my side. How is it failing for you?