On Windows, where POSIX signals do not exist, the signal argument will be
ignored, and the process will be killed forcefully and abruptly (similar to
'SIGKILL').
This does not seem to match the current behavior, where the signal argument is not ignored on Windows, and it can lead in fact to different results. A minimal repro:
// test.mjs - Run on Windows
import { spawn } from 'child_process';
spawn(process.execPath, ['-v']).kill('SIGKILL'); // ok
spawn(process.execPath, ['-v']).kill('SIGHUP'); // throws ENOSYS
How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?
Always on Windows
What is the expected behavior?
If the documentation is right, invoking kill('SIGHUP') on a subprocess on Windows should work exactly like kill('SIGKILL').
What do you see instead?
The signal argument is not currently ignored on Windows. I can't decide if this behavior is intended and the documentation is wrong or if the documentation is right and the behavior is incorrect.
Additional information
If someone could clarify me about the expectations of running subprocess.kill on Windows, I would be glad to submit a PR to fix the code or the documentation.
This seems a fairly significant issue, in the sense that anybody that is triggering a signal with process.kill without knowing this issue is probably doing it in a problematic way for Windows.
Version
v18.0.0
Platform
Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.19044.0 x64
Subsystem
child_process
What steps will reproduce the bug?
The documentation about
subprocess.kill([signal])
says:This does not seem to match the current behavior, where the
signal
argument is not ignored on Windows, and it can lead in fact to different results. A minimal repro:How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?
Always on Windows
What is the expected behavior?
If the documentation is right, invoking
kill('SIGHUP')
on a subprocess on Windows should work exactly likekill('SIGKILL')
.What do you see instead?
The
signal
argument is not currently ignored on Windows. I can't decide if this behavior is intended and the documentation is wrong or if the documentation is right and the behavior is incorrect.Additional information
If someone could clarify me about the expectations of running
subprocess.kill
on Windows, I would be glad to submit a PR to fix the code or the documentation.