How to make Node.js exit regardless of a native module async call pending?

[o2genum]

• Node.js Version: 10.11.0
• OS: Windows 10
• Scope: native modules

I'm writing a native module node-winapi. I'm trying to implement an asynchronous function WaitForProcessToExit(pid), which infinitely waits for a certain process to terminate. I'm using Napi::AsyncWorker.

Everything works as intended, with a caveat: this async call prevents Node.js from exiting. I want Node.js to exit when it has nothing else to do, like it does with child_process.unref(). How do I do that?

[o2genum]

I saw lots of cool native modules by @addaleax
Sorry for annoyance, maybe you know if such thing is possible?

[addaleax]

@o2genum Napi::AsyncWorker doesn’t really support this – it’s built more with CPU-bound functions that eventually come to an end in mind.

I’m afraid you might have to use libuv directly here; calling uv_unref() on an uv_async_t would do the same thing as child_process.unref(), and you may have to create a separate thread for calling WaitForProcessToExit() manually. In order to cancel the call when Node.js exits, I think you could then register a N-API cleanup hook that stops the thread manually (which iirc works well for Windows).

I hope this helps, but feel free to follow up :)

[o2genum]

Ok, I'm posting the link to my solution. Hope it helps someone.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/58356953/633969