vue ui fails on 3.0.0-rc.7 and Win10

[beatgrabe]

Version

3.0.0-rc.7

Node and OS info

Node v8.11.3 / NPM 5.7.1 / Windows 10

Steps to reproduce

vue ui fails on arbitrary projects with error:

ERROR  Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read
Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read
    at Object.fs.readSync (fs.js:675:18)
    at tryReadSync (fs.js:540:20)
    at Object.fs.readFileSync (fs.js:583:19)
    at windowsConfigPath (C:\Users\beat.grabe\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@vue\cli\lib\util\rcPath.js:30:35)
    at exports.getRcPath.file (C:\Users\beat.grabe\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@vue\cli\lib\util\rcPath.js:41:3)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\beat.grabe\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@vue\cli\node_modules\@vue\cli-ui\apollo-server\util\db.js:18:5)
    at Module._compile (module.js:652:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:663:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:565:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:505:12)

What is expected?

The vue-cli user interface will open

What is actually happening?

The command is failing

[beatgrabe]

Running in dev mode vue ui --dev seems to prevent the error.

[Samuell1]

I think its because it wants to read folder .vue-cli-ui but it should read only file.

[Akryum]

It seems it's trying to read and create the .vue-cli-ui folder in your App Data but fails for some reason, maybe it doesn't have the rights.

[beatgrabe]

What is the benefit of migrating vue config files from the homedir to the appdata dir on win10? I am aware of the related Issue #1957. For me it is totally fine (if it would or will work), but it is clearly missing a proper explanation, since .npmrc or .bashrc are localed in the home dir as well…

Generally speaking these are only my thoughts, but the code change apparently leads to a malfunction…

[beatgrabe]

As @Samuell1 already mentioned, it has nothing to do with permissions, but with the function itself. The getRcPath function in vue-cli\packages\@vue\cli-ui\apollo-server\util\db.js is called with '.vue-cli-ui' which is a folder name:

// vue-cli\packages\@vue\cli-ui\apollo-server\util\db.js
…
folder = (
  process.env.VUE_CLI_UI_DB_PATH ||
  getRcPath('.vue-cli-ui')
)
…

On windows this is passed to another function windowsConfigPath(file), which expects a filename, e.g. .vuerc. In that function happens the mess then:

// vue-cli\packages\@vue\cli\lib\util\rcPath.js line 30
…
fs.writeFileSync(rcPath, fs.readFileSync(oldRcFile)) // expects rcPath to be a file but is folder
…

[yyx990803]

@beatgrabe good point. I don't use Windows very often so I'm not all that familiar with the conventions on Windows config files. The only upside I see is if the file is placed in AppData/Roaming you will be able to reuse it when you log onto another machine on the same domain. Although I'm not sure if that's a common need.

[Akryum]

@yyx990803 The migration should work with folders as well.

[yyx990803]

@Akryum I'm going to revert it because I don't see much benefit. The user who wants a different config location can use VUE_CLI_CONFIG_PATH anyway.