From 6c8258897268687da35979fbd26fa615947b2248 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Micha=C5=82=20Wawrzyniec=20Urba=C5=84czyk?=
 <mwu-tow@gazeta.pl>
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2022 14:56:08 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Handling exceptions in IDE main to avoid entering "zombie
 process" state. (#3648)

This is meant to address https://www.pivotaltracker.com/story/show/182691027.
---
 CHANGELOG.md                            |  4 ++
 app/ide-desktop/lib/client/src/index.js | 55 +++++++++++++++++--------
 2 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 76bae824949..3f1318173b5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@
   methods, atoms and functions are presented in nice, categorized view. The most
   popular tools are available at hand. The The panel is unstable, and thus is
   available under the `--enable-new-component-browser` flag.
+- [Fixed error handling during startup.][3648] This prevents entering IDE into a
+  "zombie" state, where processes were started but not visible to user. They
+  could cause issues with starting further IDE instances.
 
 #### EnsoGL (rendering engine)
 
@@ -273,6 +276,7 @@
 [3601]: https://github.com/enso-org/enso/pull/3601
 [3617]: https://github.com/enso-org/enso/pull/3617
 [3629]: https://github.com/enso-org/enso/pull/3629
+[3648]: https://github.com/enso-org/enso/pull/3648
 
 #### Enso Compiler
 
diff --git a/app/ide-desktop/lib/client/src/index.js b/app/ide-desktop/lib/client/src/index.js
index df35c743af0..640dce6260e 100644
--- a/app/ide-desktop/lib/client/src/index.js
+++ b/app/ide-desktop/lib/client/src/index.js
@@ -476,27 +476,46 @@ let mainWindow = null
 let origin = null
 
 async function main(args) {
-    runBackend()
-    console.log('Starting the IDE service.')
-    if (args.server !== false) {
-        let serverCfg = Object.assign({}, args)
-        serverCfg.dir = root
-        serverCfg.fallback = '/assets/index.html'
-        server = await Server.create(serverCfg)
-        origin = `http://localhost:${server.port}`
-    }
-    if (args.window !== false) {
-        console.log('Starting the IDE client.')
-        mainWindow = createWindow()
-        mainWindow.on('close', evt => {
-            if (hideInsteadOfQuit) {
-                evt.preventDefault()
-                mainWindow.hide()
-            }
-        })
+    // Note [Main error handling]
+    try {
+        runBackend()
+
+        console.log('Starting the IDE service.')
+        if (args.server !== false) {
+            let serverCfg = Object.assign({}, args)
+            serverCfg.dir = root
+            serverCfg.fallback = '/assets/index.html'
+            server = await Server.create(serverCfg)
+            origin = `http://localhost:${server.port}`
+        }
+        if (args.window !== false) {
+            console.log('Starting the IDE client.')
+            mainWindow = createWindow()
+            mainWindow.on('close', evt => {
+                if (hideInsteadOfQuit) {
+                    evt.preventDefault()
+                    mainWindow.hide()
+                }
+            })
+        }
+    } catch (err) {
+        // Note [Main error handling]
+        console.error('Failed to setup IDE. Error:', err)
+        Electron.app.quit()
     }
 }
 
+// Note [Main error handling]
+// ==========================
+// It is critical that the main function runs in its entirety. Otherwise, IDE enters a "zombie
+// process" state, where Electron processes have been spawned, but there is no window and user can't
+// observe anything. Usually they will try to spawn another instance of the IDE, but this can fail
+// because of these zombie process presence.
+//
+// The solution is to catch all errors and exit the process if any part of the initial setup fails.
+// If it succeeds, at least the Window will be shown, allowing the user to observe the error and
+// close it.
+
 function urlParamsFromObject(obj) {
     let params = []
     for (let key in obj) {