`--build-sea` NodeJS 25.5.0: `Error: Couldn't stat executable node`

[alexsch01]

I was looking at #61167 since it looked really cool

---

sea-config.json

{ "main": "hello.js", "output": "sea.exe" }

hello.js

console.log("Hello")

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NodeJS 25.5.0, Windows, Command Prompt

>node --build-sea sea-config.json
Error: Couldn't stat executable node

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Same command as above works in Windows PowerShell and Git Bash

[joyeecheung]

hmm, in retrospect we should've put the libuv error code in there to give more information. Though I suspect the particular failure reported here is likely environment-dependent e.g. permission issues.

[alexsch01]

Wait, if I hardcode the full path to node.exe in the "executable" field of sea-config.json, it works!

I think it's an issue of detecting the path on Command Prompt

[joyeecheung]

I suspect that it might have to do with the fact that currently the configuration treats relative paths as "relative to current working directory", while intuitively users might think it should be "relative to the configuration file's path". I am inclined to change it to the latter, though it's a bit breaking and might warrant semver major.

[alexsch01]

it must be this

node/src/node_sea_bin.cc

Lines 390 to 392 in 8e41b8d

	if (config.executable_path.empty()) {
	config.executable_path = args[0];
	}

[joyeecheung]

I see, it might be because in certain shell environments (or depending on how you alias node in your shell), argv[0] is not expanded into the full path of the original executable. We can probably reuse the exec_path computation logic to compute it in that case.

[alexsch01]

It's interesting, process.argv[0] shows the full path

Since it's not the main NodeJS version I use on my machine, I am setting the %PATH% variable in command prompt

[llimllib]

I also just got this problem with mise: argv0 is just node, not the full path to the process. To repro:

1. prerequisites: mise
2. mise use node@25.6.0

$ echo 'console.log(12)' > a.js && 
    echo '{"main":"a.js","output":"twelve"}' > sea-config.json &&
    node --build-sea sea-config.json

Error: Couldn't stat executable node: no such file or directory

Compare to the version with which node:

$ echo 'console.log(12)' >| a.js && 
 echo '{"main":"a.js","output":"twelve","executable":"'$(which node)'"}' > sea-config.json &&
 node --build-sea sea-config.json

Generated single executable /Users/llimllib/.local/share/mise/installs/node/25.6.0/bin/node + sea-config.json -> twelve

claude wants to add this as the reason for why argv[0] is just node, but I don't understand it fully tbh:

mise activates via a shell hook (mise activate) that adds shims/PATH entries. When you run node, the shell resolves it through $PATH, but process.argv0 preserves the original invocation string "node" rather than the resolved path. --build-sea then tries to stat("node") relative to the current directory, which fails.

[alexsch01]

Ahh with Windows - Command Prompt

> process.argv0
'node'
> process.argv[0]
'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe'
>

with Windows - PowerShell

> process.argv0
'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe'
> process.argv[0]
'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe'
>

with Windows - Git Bash

> process.argv0
'C:/Program Files/nodejs/node.exe'
> process.argv[0]
'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe'
>

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Ahh with Fedora - bash

> process.argv0
'node'
> process.argv[0]
'/user/bin/node-22'
>