Fix no display found error on Node 12.13.1+ on macOS

[dhritzkiv]

While attempting to fix the CI issues on macOS, it became apparent that headless-gl doesn't work on macOS with nodejs 12.13.1 and higher. nodejs 12.13.0 still works, believe it or not.

I have not been able to pinpoint the cause of the breakage yet. All I know is that it's unrelated to the building of the native module with gyp (as building on 12.13.0, then running 12.13.1 doesn't work). It's likely a runtime issue.

[dhritzkiv]

It seems that eglInitialize in webgl.cc fails in node 12.13.1.

I believe I've narrowed down the change in node that may have brought this about.

This commit to node (nodejs/node@2764567f90) upgraded libuv. Inside the upgrade was this insignificant, seemingly unrelated change: libuv/libuv@038eacf

As crazy as it sounds, the process-title code may be the culprit. (!!)

Why do I suspect this? Three years ago when first working with headless-gl, I noticed that my implementation suddenly stopped working on OSX. I eventually traced it back to me setting process.title to some value. I scratched my head, removed the process.title line, and moved on without thinking too much more about it.

In fact, you can re-create the behaviour of this issue's bug in Node 12.13.0 and below by simply doing this in any JS file that is required by the process:

process.title = "Foo";

// the rest of your code

---

I'm planning to build node from source just before that commit and just after that commit to confirm my suspicions. As for the next steps after that? No idea.

[dhritzkiv]

Amazingly, more digging turned up this issue: libuv/libuv#2566 (and nodejs/node-gyp#1981)

Not exactly our problem, but looks extremely related.

The suspect code has been reverted in libuv, but a new version hasn't been created. It might be some time before it makes its way into a new node release. Hopefully any libuv upgrade will also make it into node v12.

Unfortunately, I don't believe there is anything to do on our end.

The README will need to be updated to note the total breakage in certain version ranges of node.

[mourner]

Wow, that's super obscure! Good work on narrowing down the issue. Yeah, it seems there's nothing we can do but declare a certain range of Node versions unsupported.

[Nismit]

Thank you for digging into the issue.
I noticed Node v13.7.0 has been updated libuv (https://github.com/nodejs/node/releases/tag/v13.7.0)
so, I tested;
Node v13.7.0 + gl v4.4.1, it's working. (while installing, I got some warnings)
Node v13.6.0 + gl v4.4.1, it does not work. (while installing, I got some warnings as well)
I didn't tested deeply, something won't work possibly but I'd like to let you know that.

Thank you so much for contribution and maintenance!

FYI:
Machine Specs.
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)
MacOS Catalina 10.15.2

[dhritzkiv]

Thanks for updating this thread, @Nismit. Looks like 13.7.0 includes the fix. I've submitted an issue to nodejs (nodejs/node#31623) to back port the changes to the 12.x line.

I'll close the issue when nodejs 12.x (or the next LTS) is working again.

[Nismit]

Perfect. Thank you for hard working for it.
Hope it will be approved.

[dhritzkiv]

Fixed with the releases of Node v12.16.2 and v13.7.0