Run the NativePHP installer with pnpm doesn't work.

[EMeDesign]

What were you trying to do?

Hello, everyone.

I try to create a complete new native-php v2 app on my windows 11 PC with Laravel 12.

I didn't install packages when run php artisan native:install, so when I run php artisan native:run --installer=pnpm, command will run but stop immediately.

To see what happened, I add ->throw() on the command's process (link).

outputs are provided separately.

It seems that we have to edit or delete the package manager specified in the package.json of electron (link) before install packages using pnpm:

"packageManager": "yarn@1.22.22+sha512.a6b2f7906b721bba3d67d4aff083df04dad64c399707841b7acf00f6b133b7ac24255f2652fa22ae3534329dc6180534e98d17432037ff6fd140556e2bb3137e"

If I missed anything that I need to provide, please tell me, thank you.

What happened?

I don't know if it's a bug or I just didn't find the right way to create app.

How to reproduce the bug

Do not install packages when run php artisan native:install, then run php artisan native:run --installer=pnpm.

Debug Output

Didn't run debug command.

Which operating systems have you seen this occur on?

Windows

Notes

Output here:

 Starting NativePHP dev server…

 Fetching latest dependencies…

 Installing NPM dependencies (This may take a while)...

 Installing NPM dependencies using the pnpm package manager...


   Illuminate\Process\Exceptions\ProcessFailedException

  The command "pnpm install" failed.

Exit Code: 1

Error Output:
================
 ERROR  This project is configured to use yarn
For help, run: pnpm help install

  at vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Process\ProcessResult.php:124
    120▕         if ($this->successful()) {
    121▕             return $this;
    122▕         }
    123▕
  ➜ 124▕         $exception = new ProcessFailedException($this);
    125▕
    126▕         if ($callback) {
    127▕             $callback($this, $exception);
    128▕         }

  1   vendor\nativephp\desktop\src\Drivers\Electron\Traits\ExecuteCommand.php:44
      Illuminate\Process\ProcessResult::throw()

  2   vendor\nativephp\desktop\src\Drivers\Electron\Traits\Installer.php:35
      Native\Desktop\Drivers\Electron\Commands\RunCommand::executeCommand("pnpm install", "install")

[gwleuverink]

Hi @EMeDesign, thanks for your report.

I think we could safely delete the packageManager entry in package.json. @SRWieZ Do you remember why this was added?

If I delete it the process continues, but runs into another problem. So it's only partly a fix. It looks like there are some upstream issues installing electron with pnpm. I've tried a couple of suggested fixes but none work so far.

You can use the default (npm) or yarn in the mean time.

[SRWieZ]

Hi!👋

I never understood that line. It's been there for a while.
Always used npm.

That all I know 😅

[gwleuverink]

Thanks @SRWieZ! I'll PR to remove it 👍🏻

The other issue still stands though - maybe that should be a separate issue?

[EMeDesign]

Hi @EMeDesign, thanks for your report.

I think we could safely delete the packageManager entry in package.json. @SRWieZ Do you remember why this was added?

If I delete it the process continues, but runs into another problem. So it's only partly a fix. It looks like there are some upstream issues installing electron with pnpm. I've tried a couple of suggested fixes but none work so far.

You can use the default (npm) or yarn in the mean time.

Hi, thanks for your reply.
It is not very smooth to install nativePHP with dependencies.
Does any member of nativePHP team consider to add some logs or exception handling to the artisan commands (e.g. throw exception if install process failed)? Then people can know why they install failed, not just waiting or command runs and stops immediately.

[gwleuverink]

When using native:run the install command output is echoed to the console’s output stream. You’ll see all errors there, but it’s not blocking. Even if installation failed you could still continue running the app, since the dependencies should have installed initially by the native:install command

If you think that should be different, we do take suggestions (and PR’s too!) @simonhamp @SRWieZ @PeteBishwhip what do you think?

It is not very smooth to install nativePHP with dependencies.

Could you elaborate what you mean by this exactly? What are you trying to do?

[EMeDesign]

When using native:run the install command output is echoed to the console’s output stream. You’ll see all errors there, but it’s not blocking. Even if installation failed you could still continue running the app, since the dependencies should have installed initially by the native:install command

If you think that should be different, we do take suggestions (and PR’s too!) @simonhamp @SRWieZ @PeteBishwhip what do you think?

It is not very smooth to install nativePHP with dependencies.

Could you elaborate what you mean by this exactly? What are you trying to do?

Hi, as mentioned earlier, the command php artisan native:run --installer=pnpm runs pnpm install in the background using Laravel’s Process Facade.
When pnpm install fails with the message “The command 'pnpm install' failed.”, the process doesn’t throw any exception — it just stops after printing a few log lines.

I also tried running pnpm install manually inside ../nativephp/electron. It installed all dependencies successfully, but running php artisan native:run again still printed a few logs and then exited immediately. (I suspect the Electron package from pnpm’s registry might not be fully compatible with NativePHP, but not sure.)

So I think it would be helpful if commands like php artisan native:run threw exceptions when the process fails, to make it clearer what went wrong.

Thanks for your time and patience!

[PeteBishwhip]

I’m certainly in agreement that we should throw an error when required tasks fail such as dependency installation as these are usually required for a good clean build anyway.

@gwleuverink - happy to take a stab at this Monday with a PoC if you like. I think pnpm compatibility should be its own case though.

TL;DR: let’s consider this issue about pnpm support via the run command and let’s create a separate issue for bailing early when issues arise on required processes? As you’ve done some repro with pnpm you could be suited for this. I can get errors output in a valuable way separately.

Happy to hear suggestions and thoughts too.

[gwleuverink]

Okay. I've got a branch ready that throws errors when the process fails for any reason 👍🏻

Working on the pnpm issue now but I'm having trouble getting it to work at all. Hitting errors deep in the Electron process.

---

Is there any other argument to support pnpm besides disk space efficiency? The builds should be identical no matter what package manager is used. As I understand Electron combined with pnpm can be somewhat flaky (as I'm experiencing right now)

I can make the case that stability and a lower maintenance burden outweigh the support of the optional package manager. People can use pnpm for their own dependencies, that's fine. But i see benefit in only supporting only npm for the internal install, run and build commands. It makes the whole thing a lot more dependable. Curious what your thoughts are. @NativePHP/contributors

[gwleuverink]

I've updated PR #36 to now throw an error when a command fails.

We discussed the pnpm issue internally and decided to drop pnpm support due to the known compatibility issues with Electron. You can still use pnpm for your own dependencies @EMeDesign