CLI invalid options trigger an hard-to-understand stacktrace

[f18m]

Hi all,
I'm trying to use asciidoctor (on top of npm) to produce HTML documentation.
Working on RHEL I managed to install successfully:

npm install -g asciidoctor

but then launching the tool I get the following error:

[root@fedora libzmq-f18m]# asciidoctor -D /tmp/mytest -azmq_version='4.3.6' doc/*.adoc
require 
backend undefined
doctype undefined
standalone false
section-numbers false
failure-level FATAL
quiet true
verbose true
timings false
trace false
base-dir undefined
destination-dir /tmp/mytest
template-dir undefined
template-engine undefined
verbose-mode 0
attributes 
options {"safe":"unsafe","standalone":false,"failure_level":4,"verbose":0,"timings":false,"trace":false,"to_dir":"/tmp/mytest","to_file":"-","attributes":[""]}
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1077
  const err = new Error(message);
              ^

Error: Cannot find module ''
Require stack:
- /usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/node_modules/@asciidoctor/cli/lib/invoker.js
- /usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/node_modules/@asciidoctor/cli/lib/cli.js
- /usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/bin/asciidoctor
    at Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1077:15)
    at Function.resolve (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:125:19)
    at Invoker.requireLibrary (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/node_modules/@asciidoctor/cli/lib/invoker.js:126:29)
    at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/node_modules/@asciidoctor/cli/lib/invoker.js:135:29
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at Invoker.prepareProcessor (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/node_modules/@asciidoctor/cli/lib/invoker.js:134:20)
    at Invoker.invoke (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/node_modules/@asciidoctor/cli/lib/invoker.js:24:13)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/bin/asciidoctor:9:22)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1256:14)
    at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1310:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1119:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:960:12)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:86:12)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:23:47 {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: [
    '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/node_modules/@asciidoctor/cli/lib/invoker.js',
    '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/node_modules/@asciidoctor/cli/lib/cli.js',
    '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/asciidoctor/bin/asciidoctor'
  ]
}

Node.js v18.18.2

I have no clue how to fix it.... any hint?
thanks

PS: I cannot use "dnf install asciidoctor" because actually I'm trying to get Asciidoctor working on readthedocs.io that requires Asciidoctor to be installed through npm

[mojavelinux]

The problem you are running into is that you have given the processor a whole bunch of invalid options by including this in the command:

-azmq_version='4.3.6'

While the CLI should probably be more clear about the invalid option, that is the cause. You can fix it by adding a space after the -a so it is seen as a single option:

-a zmq_version='4.3.6'

Also, instead of installing the asciidoctor npm package globally, I recommend the following instead:

npx asciidoctor doc/*.adoc

npx manage the installation for you on demand so you don't have to worry about where it gets installed.

[f18m]

Hi @mojavelinux ,

thanks a lot for the quick answer!
Indeed using:

-a zmq_version='4.3.6'

it works fine!

Can I just rename this bug to "CLI invalid options trigger an hard-to-understand stacktrace" ?
Because without your help I would have never understood that the stacktrace I was getting was just because of a missing whitespace :)

[mojavelinux]

I'm glad that worked!

As to whether to rename the issue or to file a new one, that's up to @ggrossetie.

[f18m]

for now I renamed this issue, @ggrossetie please let me know if that's not ok and I should close this and open a new one instead, thanks.

[ggrossetie]

I'm fine with it, thanks for your help Dan!