In REPL, required modules have different Object than command-line

[sethml]

In the node REPL, it appears that Object is different than in required modules. For example, given a simple module test.js:

exports.Object = Object;
exports.isObject = function(o) {
  return o instanceof Object;
};
exports.anObject = {a:1};

I get the following behavior in the REPL:

> var test = require('./test.js');
> test.isObject({a:1})
false
> test.isObject(test.anObject)
true
> test.Object == Object
false
> test.anObject instanceof Object
false

I noticed this issue when attempting to use node-mongodb-native from the command-line:

> var mongodb = require('mongodb');
> mongodb.pure().BSON.serialize({foo: 1});
Error: Not a valid object
    at Function.serialize (/Users/seth/development/service/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/bson/bson.js:1249:11)

[bnoordhuis]

Not a bug, it's how JS objects work. Consider:

> {a:1} == {a:1}
false
> {a:1} === {a:1}
false

Object equality is identity based, not value based.

[neonstalwart]

@bnoordhuis i think you may have misunderstood the problem

[bnoordhuis]

The other part of the equation is that modules live in a context separate from the REPL. It's the same behaviour you get with NODE_MODULE_CONTEXTS=1.

[neonstalwart]

i see, so that is why Object !== test.Object.

[bnoordhuis]

Yes. It's slightly confusing but there was a good reason to do it like this - I just can't quite remember what it was.

@isaacs - do you remember? Clobbering of the global context? Security issues in a multi-user setup?

[sethml]

It looks to me like the reason was to allow the .clear command to work: #771

Personally, I think having the REPL behave this differently from non-REPL code is a really bad idea - it leads newbies to waste significant time trying to figure out what the heck their code is doing. I've personally wasted more time than I'd like on it. Here's another person wasting time on this issue: https://github.com/christkv/node-mongodb-native/issues/314

I'd gladly give up the .clear command to get sane behavior in the REPL.

[isaacs]

I'm coming around to this as well. If you really want to clear, just restart. It does allow for very nice restricted access from the repl to the rest of a program, if you listen on a socket and use it to check in with a running server or something. But even still, it's not much security, since at that point someone's logged onto your machine and socat'ed a random socket, so they can probably do anything anyway.

I'll open a new issue.

[isaacs]

#1484

[sethml]

One more example of subtle breakage caused by this: lots of modules use 'if (func instanceof Function)' to handle variable argument lists. This will break subtly when called from the REPL, since functions created in the REPL will not be instances of the module's Function.

[netpedro-com]

I just wasted 2 hours stuck into this issue:

> var my_module = require('./module_test.js');
> my_module.cool_func({a:1})
false
// cool_func eval "{a:1} instanceof Object" to false

That's terrible. I can't live without REPL. For someone who want to know more, see https://github.com/nwjs/nw.js/wiki/Differences-of-JavaScript-contexts#working-around-differences-of-contexts