Simple bash commands fails, cannot execute binary file

Question

I try to execute some simple bash in node bu get an error: /usr/bin/file: /usr/bin/file: cannot execute binary file

'use strict';

var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;

var process = spawn('bash', ['file']);
process.stdout.on('data', function(data){
    console.log(data.toString());
});
process.stderr.on('data', function(data){
    console.log(data.toString());
});

I even gave the script chmod+x and i run it with node script.js

Any ideas?

Clayton Gulick · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-24 21:30:05Z

2

It looks like when you're spawning the child process, you're actually trying to run the "file" command, not a shell script, so bash is barking at you.

It would be equivalent to typing this on the command line: "bash file".

You'll want to write a shell script and pass that as the parameter to the bash process.

So, write a script called "do_something.sh" and then run your code with ['do_something.sh'] as the parameter to bash rather than ['file']:

var process = spawn('bash', ['do_something.sh']);

answered Sep 24, 2015 at 21:30

Clayton Gulick

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Clayton Gulick Over a year ago

And make sure you've done chmod +x on do_something.sh, of course and that it's in your path.

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