Needs an escape character

[feathersjs-ecosystem]

Needs an escape character

[matb33]

This causes issues when trying to pass along PORT from IIS. An example PORT can look like this:

\\.\pipe\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf

[daffl]

Why? Shouldn't \\\\.\pipe\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf work?

[matb33]

Because IIS populates the PORT env variable

[daffl]

I'm not following. If you set that string as the PORT environment variable it won't be escaped (see https://github.com/feathersjs/feathers-configuration/blob/master/src/index.js#L26). If you set that string directly in the configuration the (admittedly not pretty) \\\\.\pipe\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf should do it.

[matb33]

iisnode will automatically set the environment variable PORT with a value that looks like\\.\pipe\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf. The developer does not set this. The value could change. IIS likely generates this thing and iisnode likely sets it as the PORT environment variable for node to consume.

iisnode then assumes you will run your server on port process.env.PORT.

That being said, if one wants to leverage feathers-configuration and is stuck with having to use iisnode, they can't pass along PORT without the leading backslash being removed.

I've implemented a hack workaround to get us through this situation. I'm not entirely sure why this package is changing the values being passed through -- I assume there's a good reason, but it was certainly surprising to have environment variable values changed out from underneath us.

[daffl]

I can't test this on Windows but I just verified on Mac OS that an environment variable with two leading backslashes will not be escaped.

[matb33]

Are you saying that the code here did not remove the first backslash?
https://github.com/feathersjs/feathers-configuration/blob/master/src/index.js#L23-L24

It's sounding more and more like there's a miscommunication going on. I can only continue stressing that the PORT environment variable is set automatically by iisnode. I can't go and change it and add extra backslashes to compensate because the value is automatically generated.

I think perhaps you are confusing this issue with the escaping functionality itself. Your escaping functionality is working as you intended. What I'm trying to bring to light is that the value of an environment variable with leading backslashes will have its first backslash trimmed off.

Example:

1. A node management process (such as iisnode) automatically sets up some environment variables, among them being PORT with the value \\.\pipe\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf (this CANNOT be changed!)

2. A configuration json file is set-up that looks like:

{
   "port": "PORT"
}

3. A boot-up script that looks like:

import feathers from 'feathers'
import configuration from 'feathers-configuration'
import { createServer } from 'https'

const app = feathers()
app.configure(configuration())
const port = app.get('port')
const server = createServer({}, app).listen(port)

In such a scenario, the environment variable PORT will be changed from

\\.\pipe\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf

to

\.\pipe\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf

[daffl]

That's what I am trying to say. The environment variable will not be read until https://github.com/feathersjs/feathers-configuration/blob/master/src/index.js#L26 when the part of the code that removes the leading slash is already skipped (because 'PORT'.indexOf('\\') !== 0).

I was able to confirm this again on Mac OS by creating a new folder with an app.js like:

const feathers = require('feathers');
const configuration = require('feathers-configuration');

const app = feathers().configure(configuration());

console.log(app.get('test'))

A config/default.json like:

{
  "test": "PORT"
}

Then I ran

$ npm install feathers feathers-configuration
$ export PORT="\\\\.\\pipe\\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf"
$ echo $PORT
\\.\pipe\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf

And running node app.js shows:

$ node app.js
\\.\pipe\ad443a91-dc7e-4222-a95a-6e64a2554faf

[matb33]

OK, I see it -- apologies.

That leading backslash is likely getting dropped elsewhere, probably as part of our code.

When I looked at your code, what threw me off was the var name value, and how if we were to suppose value was the environment variable's value, that little bit:

          if (value.indexOf('\\') === 0) {
            value = value.replace('\\', '');
          } else {

would have actually stripped leading backslashes, so it was a perfect combination of red herrings...

Thanks for your patience @daffl