[bug] Can not use system base directory variables in shell cmd

[ianho7]

Describe the bug

I want to use shell command api to run a executable file, here is my code:
`

const resourceDirPath = await resourceDir()
console.log(resourceDirPath = ${resourceDirPath})
const command = new Command('download', ['https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1rP4y1U75S'])
command.on('close', (data) => {
  console.log(`command finished with code ${data.code} and signal ${data.signal}`)
})

command.on('error', (error) => console.error(`command error: "${error}"`))
command.stdout.on('data', (line) => {
  console.log(`command stdout: "${line}"`)
  if (line) {
    setLog(`${log}\n${line}`)
  }
})
command.stderr.on('data', (line) => console.log(`command stderr: "${line}"`))

const child = await command.spawn()
console.log('pid:', child.pid)

And here is my tauri.conf.json
"shell": { "all": true, "execute": true, "sidecar": true, "open": true, "scope": [{ "name": "download", "cmd": "$RESOURCE/sdk/you-get-darwin", "args": [{ "validator": "\\S+" }] }] }

This is result:

I check the resource directory(resourceDirPath = /Users/ianho/Documents/project/private/tauri-react-template/src-tauri/target/debug/
Index.tsx:61) and the executable file is exists.

Could you please tell my what's wrong with my code or the correct way to use tauri api, thank a lot!

Reproduction

No response

Expected behavior

No response

Platform and versions

Environment
› OS: Mac OS 12.3.1 X64
› Node.js: 16.13.0
› npm: 8.1.0
› pnpm: 7.13.5
› yarn: 1.22.10
› rustup: 1.25.1
› rustc: 1.64.0
› cargo: 1.64.0
› Rust toolchain: stable-x86_64-apple-darwin

Packages
› @tauri-apps/cli [NPM]: 1.1.1
› @tauri-apps/api [NPM]: 1.1.0
› tauri [RUST]: 1.0.5,
› tauri-build [RUST]: 1.0.4,
› tao [RUST]: 0.12.2,
› wry [RUST]: 0.19.0,

App
› build-type: bundle
› CSP: unset
› distDir: ../dist
› devPath: http://localhost:3000/
› framework: React

App directory structure
├─ dist
├─ node_modules
├─ src-tauri
├─ .git
└─ src

Stack trace

No response

Additional context

No response

[FabianLars]

Not 100% sure but i think the $xxx vars won't be resolved for the cmd property, so in this case it tries to open <cwd>/$RESOURCE/sdk/you-get-darwin. Nevermind, i'm wrong. Too early for me lol. Maybe it's related to this bug #5196 - a fix for this will be part of tauri 1.2

Since this is effectively what you're doing manually here, did you take a look at the sidecar feature? https://tauri.app/v1/guides/building/sidecar

[ianho7]

Not 100% sure but i think the $xxx vars won't be resolved for the cmd property, so in this case it tries to open <cwd>/$RESOURCE/sdk/you-get-darwin. Nevermind, i'm wrong. Too early for me lol. Maybe it's related to this bug #5196 - a fix for this will be part of tauri 1.2

Since this is effectively what you're doing manually here, did you take a look at the sidecar feature? https://tauri.app/v1/guides/building/sidecar

Thanks for response! sidebar feature is very useful!

[JMMarchant]

I'm similarly running into this issue though can't use the sidecar due to the interplay between multiple binary files which all need to be colocated with each other).

Although it doesn't print the file path in the error message, I'm fairly certain you're almost right @FabianLars and the issue is that it's messing up the path in cmd and instead putting it in a literal $RESOURCE directory (tested this by printing out the resourceDir() path and then placing a simple "Hello World!" binary at resourceDir()/"$RESOURCE"/<rest of cmd path from scope> where it suddenly works).

i.e. for this example it would be at src-tauri/target/debug/$RESOURCE/sdk/you-get-darwin

[JMMarchant]

Have just tried it with $HOME in place of $RESOURCE and can confirm it's an issue with the $-vars not being substituted (despite the docs saying they are); instead of picking something up from my home directory it wasn't until I put it in the debug folder under a "$HOME" directory that it worked.

[lucasfernog]

We can surely improve the shell configuration to allow resolving the command path with the predefined variables, but be careful to not confuse the arbitrary shell command execution with a sidecar.
A sidecar is automatically read from the resources directory, so you can specify { name: "sdk/you-get-darwin", sidecar: true } instead of { name: 'download', cmd: '$RESOURCE/sdk/you-get-darwin }` as long as you append the target triple to the sidecar file name and you'll automatic sidecar path resolution and it'll be easier to make it cross platform.

[JMMarchant]

A sidecar is automatically read from the resources directory, so you can specify { name: "sdk/you-get-darwin", sidecar: true } instead of { name: 'download', cmd: '$RESOURCE/sdk/you-get-darwin }` as long as you append the target triple to the sidecar file name and you'll automatic sidecar path resolution and it'll be easier to make it cross platform.

Is it guaranteed that a sidecar always gets packaged into the resources directory? My "main" sidecar binary has some dynamically linked libraries that it needs to be colocated with so need to have those end up in the same place.

[lucasfernog]

Not really @JMMarchant that's one of the limitations of a sidecar. We'll try to include this enhancement on v1.2.