Module child_process 

Node child_process module — real subprocess execution via std::process::Command.

The synchronous entry points (execSync, spawnSync, execFileSync) are fully implemented: they spawn the child with piped stdio, wait for it, and return its captured output. stdout/stderr are returned as Buffers by default (built through buffer::from_bytes, identical to the fs module’s byte returns) or as strings when an encoding other than "buffer" is given in the options object.

The asynchronous forms are backed synchronously here because node-js has no socket-driven child event loop:

• exec(cmd, cb) runs the command to completion, then delivers the result through its callback (error, stdout, stderr) scheduled as a microtask (queue_micro), matching Node’s “callback fires after the current tick” ordering. stdout/stderr are strings, as Node’s exec default.
• execFile(file, args, cb) is exec without a shell — file is run directly with the args array — and additionally returns a (non-live) ChildProcess-shaped object carrying the collected result.
• spawn(cmd, args) runs the command to completion up front, then delivers what happened on a later turn of the loop, as events on the ChildProcess it returned: 'spawn', 'data'/'end' on the child.stdout/child.stderr streams (or the output written straight through under stdio: 'inherit'), 'exit', 'close'; a binary that cannot start is an 'error' event. LIMITATION: the child has finished before spawn returns, so a long-running one blocks the caller and its output arrives as one chunk per stream.

fork(modulePath) is the exception: it spawns THIS node executable on modulePath as a genuinely live child and returns a live ChildProcess emitter that fires exit/close when the process terminates and supports .kill(). Its IPC channel (.send() / process.on('message')) is NOT implemented — see the fork fn doc for why.

Constants

CHILD_PIPE_METHODS

The methods of a ChildPipe, besides the EventEmitter ones.

CHILD_PROCESS_METHODS

Instance method names for the ChildProcess @@native tag, exposed to stdlib::instance_has_method (property reads that yield a bound method).

METHODS

Functions

call

instance_call

stdlib::instance_call entry for a ChildProcess receiver. EventEmitter methods delegate to events; process-control methods act on the live child (only forked children are live — a spawn/execFile result has already exited, so kill is a no-op there).

pipe_call