Switch Node.js SDK grpc dependency to grpc-js

[steven-supersolid]

The original node.js grpc library has been replaced by a new implementation and after a year the original library will be deprecated. The recommendation from the gRPC team is to update. https://grpc.io/blog/grpc-js-1.0/

We should try the new library to see if there are any compatibility issues and then log with the gRPC project. Also will be interesting to see if the new library fixes #1299, although this bug has not yet been reproduced in our tests.

We can safely remain on the old library if there are problems moving over.

Instructions to update look straightforward: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@grpc/grpc-js

[steven-supersolid]

/assign steven-supersolid

[steven-supersolid]

I took a look at this but need to follow a couple of lines of investigation:

• The upgrade guide mentions to use the --generate_package_definitions option of grpc_tools but I could find no documentation for this option
• Previously the following example was useful (using grpc instead of grpc-js) https://github.com/grpc/grpc/tree/master/examples/node/static_codegen
• The guide probably corresponds to --grpc_out:generate_package_definition as mentioned in this thread https://github.com/grpc/grpc-node/issues/931
• grpc_out does not seem to be well documented in the protoc docs https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/javascript-generated#invocation
• I couldn't get this to work, possibly due to the fix mentioned in the above issue being in a new version of grpc_tools, here is the PR https://github.com/grpc/grpc-node/pull/1225 and it is present in grpc_tools 1.8.1 released early this year

When I modify this command inside build/build-sdk-images/node/gen.sh

protoc -I ${googleapis} -I ${sdk} --grpc_out=generate_package_definition:minimum_node_version=12:./sdks/nodejs/lib --plugin=protoc-gen-grpc=`which grpc_node_plugin` sdk.proto

The executed version is:

protoc -I /go/src/agones.dev/agones/proto/googleapis -I /go/src/agones.dev/agones/proto/sdk --grpc_out=generate_package_definition:minimum_node_version=12:./sdks/nodejs/lib --plugin=protoc-gen-grpc=/usr/local/bin/grpc_node_plugin sdk.proto

I receive the error message

--grpc_out: sdk.proto: Unknown parameter: generate_package_definition

[markmandel]

So it seems grpc-tools refers to https://www.npmjs.com/package/grpc-tools rather than protoc.

Might be worth filing an issue with the team for guidance on what to do when loading from protoc generated files (rather than grpc-tools).

[steven-supersolid]

I think grpc-tools just wraps protoc and the node plugin https://github.com/grpc/grpc-node#grpc-tools

Have now filed an issue https://github.com/grpc/grpc-node/issues/1408

Should also be possible to install grpc-tools to see if it works but currently unsure how this would fit into the existing scripts.

Another option we may have in JS is not to use static codegen as the proto files can be loaded directly, however would have to copy the proto files and dependencies protos to the appropriate folder.