Better error message when not initialized

[vmx]

• Version: js-ipfs version: 0.27.7
• Platform: Linux frea 4.14.0-2-amd64 Add to cli: ipfs pin [-r] <ipfs-path> #1 SMP Debian 4.14.7-1 (2017-12-22) x86_64 GNU/Linux
• Subsystem: CLI

Type:

Bug

Severity:

Low

Description:

jsipfs block put errors with an unhandled exception when IPFS wasn't previously initialized. Instead it should print a nice error that no repository was initialized and calling jsipfs init first might make sense. Example:

$ jsipfs block put README.md
/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/node_modules/ipfs-block-service/src/index.js:64
    this._repo.blocks.put(block, callback)
                      ^

TypeError: Cannot read property 'put' of undefined
    at BlockService.put (/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/node_modules/ipfs-block-service/src/index.js:64:23)
    at waterfall (/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/src/core/components/block.js:51:43)
    at nextTask (/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/node_modules/async/waterfall.js:16:14)
    at next (/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/node_modules/async/waterfall.js:23:9)
    at /home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/node_modules/async/internal/onlyOnce.js:12:16
    at waterfall (/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/src/core/components/block.js:31:20)
    at nextTask (/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/node_modules/async/waterfall.js:16:14)
    at exports.default (/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/node_modules/async/waterfall.js:26:5)
    at Function.put.promisify (/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/src/core/components/block.js:28:7)
    at Object.put (/home/vmx/src/pl/js-ipfs/node_modules/promisify-es6/index.js:32:27)

Steps to reproduce the error:

Make sure you don't have a repository (i.e. rm -Rf ~/.jsipfs). Then run:

jsipfs block put <some-file>

[paulogr]

Hi @diasdavid I'm taking a look at this issue and found this

js-ipfs/src/core/boot.js

Line 43 in 3bca165

if (err.message.match(/not found/) || // indexeddb

There, you do not fail when a repo doesn't exists but just flag it.

A few lines after you check if hasRepo but check too if the IPFS has the option init: true

js-ipfs/src/core/boot.js

Line 72 in 3bca165

if (doInit && !hasRepo) {

But the IPFS class is always instaciated with init: false

js-ipfs/src/cli/utils.js

Line 48 in 3bca165

init: false,

We have two options there

1. change to init: true, so the check will evaluate and the repo will be initialized if it doesn't exists.
2. do not just flag that repo was not initialized but throw the error to get caught and displayed like it happens on go ipfs implementations.

In go-ipfs if I try to run the same command I got this message:

Error: no IPFS repo found in /Users/paulogr/.ipfs.
please run: 'ipfs init'

Could you please instruct me what is the best way to accomplish that?

Will be glad to make a PR to fix it :)
Thank you!

[fsdiogo]

I'm taking a look at this issue too, but I'm not sure if I'm taking the right path.

js-ipfs/src/core/boot.js

Lines 39 to 49 in c1e8db1

	// If the error is that no repo exists,
	// which happens when the version file is not found
	// we just want to signal that no repo exist, not
	// fail the whole process.
	// TODO: improve datastore and ipfs-repo implemenations so this error is a bit more unified
	if (err.message.match(/not found/) || // indexeddb
	err.message.match(/ENOENT/) || // fs
	err.message.match(/No value/) // memory
	) {
	return cb(null, false)
	}

We could replace the line 48 with the following code to get the same behaviour of go-ipfs:

const repoPath = process.env.IPFS_PATH || os.homedir() + '/.jsipfs'
process.stdout.write('Error: no initialized ipfs repo found in ' + repoPath)
process.stdout.write('\nplease run: jsipfs init')
process.exit(1)

But I don't know if this should be in core/boot or a CLI only fix.

Any thoughts, @diasdavid @JonKrone?

[victorb]

@fsdiogo we should never do process.exit (edit: outside of the cli) as it might exit the process for the user when they want to handle the error and do something else.

The right implementation would be to know which commands needs to have a repository initialized before executing (not all commands needs a repository to work). For those commands, it should check the repository before running and if not initialized, return the callback with an error. This logic should hopefully be contained in one place and we can "tag" commands that needs a initialized repository to work.

In the CLI, if we get this error, we simply display it and then we can do process.exit as the CLI would/should not be reused by other projects.

[fsdiogo]

@victorbjelkholm makes sense. That's why it didn't feel right doing that there.

But then it should be implemented both in the core and the CLI right? Abstracted and shared by both.

[daviddias]

@fsdiogo the core is the module that either goes into the browser or it is used inside a daemon. It should avoid doing things like writing to stdout directly or exiting the process as @victorbjelkholm pointed out. Instead, it should return proper errors.

For the issue @vmx reported, the check can happen all in CLI, from within this func https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs/blob/master/src/cli/utils.js#L41

[victorb]

the check can happen all in CLI

Hm, then when you don't use the CLI (in browser for example), you won't get the error even if it's appropriate. I would say the error needs to come from core as a "repo not initialized" error, then printed in the CLI. The check should not just be in the CLI though, as if you don't use the CLI, you get the cryptic Cannot read property 'put' of undefined error that is mentioned here.