A file called pty.node.js is missing after installing "node-pty" in a electron-forge project. How can I install node-pty in Linux

Question

After installing node-pty (an external module used to create pseudo terminals using node js) in a boilerplate electron-forge project; I found it throwing an error that some core module of node-pty is importing another module which nodejs is failing to find.

After some research I discovered that entry point of node-pty is src/index.js, which imports another module called src/unixTerminal.js (this file is imported if the system is running on linux platform and my PC is running on Ubuntu 20.04) and that module tries to import build/Releases/pty.node.js (unixTerminal.js calls many functions imported from pty.node.js, so this package cannot be ommitted) but as a matter of fact build/Releases/pty.node.js is missing and completely absent in the node_modules/node-pty folder of my project where I had installed node-pty

Why does this happen? Is this any fault of myself in installing node-pty, I had installed it directly using npm i command? If a vital file of a module is missing how can it work? Please tell me how can I use node-pty on Linux and why build/Releases/pty.node.js is missing in node-pty's directory?

Answer 1

Since you're using Electron Forge (a crucial detail omitted from the original post), according to this issue I found by googling "node-pty electron forge" you'll need to configure the Electron packager to unpack the pty.node file:

    asar: {
      unpack: '**/node_modules/node-pty/build/Release/*'
    },