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+.. _Subprocess:
+
+=================
+Subprocess Module
+=================
+
+The Subprocess module allows a caller to spawn a native host executable, and
+communicate with it asynchronously over its standard input and output pipes.
+
+Processes are launched asynchronously ``Subprocess.call`` method, based
+on the properties of a single options object. The method returns a promise
+which resolves, once the process has successfully launched, to a ``Process``
+object, which can be used to communicate with and control the process.
+
+A simple Hello World invocation, which writes a message to a process, reads it
+back, logs it, and waits for the process to exit looks something like:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    let proc = await Subprocess.call({
+      command: "/bin/cat",
+    });
+
+    proc.stdin.write("Hello World!");
+
+    let result = await proc.stdout.readString();
+    console.log(result);
+
+    proc.stdin.close();
+    let {exitCode} = await proc.wait();
+
+Input and Output Redirection
+============================
+
+Communication with the child process happens entirely via one-way pipes tied
+to its standard input, standard output, and standard error file descriptors.
+While standard input and output are always redirected to pipes, standard error
+is inherited from the parent process by default. Standard error can, however,
+optionally be either redirected to its own pipe or merged into the standard
+output pipe.
+
+The module is designed primarily for use with processes following a strict
+IO protocol, with predictable message sizes. Its read operations, therefore,
+either complete after reading the exact amount of data specified, or do not
+complete at all. For cases where this is not desirable, ``read()`` and
+``readString`` may be called without any length argument, and will return a
+chunk of data of an arbitrary size.
+
+
+Process and Pipe Lifecycles
+===========================
+
+Once the process exits, any buffered data from its output pipes may still be
+read until the pipe is explicitly closed. Unless the pipe is explicitly
+closed, however, any pending buffered data *must* be read from the pipe, or
+the resources associated with the pipe will not be freed.
+
+Beyond this, no explicit cleanup is required for either processes or their
+pipes. So long as the caller ensures that the process exits, and there is no
+pending input to be read on its ``stdout`` or ``stderr`` pipes, all resources
+will be freed automatically.
+
+The preferred way to ensure that a process exits is to close its input pipe
+and wait for it to exit gracefully. Processes which haven't exited gracefully
+by shutdown time, however, must be forcibly terminated:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    let proc = await Subprocess.call({
+      command: "/usr/bin/subprocess.py",
+    });
+
+    // Kill the process if it hasn't gracefully exited by shutdown time.
+    let blocker = () => proc.kill();
+
+    AsyncShutdown.profileBeforeChange.addBlocker(
+      "Subprocess: Killing hung process",
+      blocker);
+
+    proc.wait().then(() => {
+      // Remove the shutdown blocker once we've exited.
+      AsyncShutdown.profileBeforeChange.removeBlocker(blocker);
+
+      // Close standard output, in case there's any buffered data we haven't read.
+      proc.stdout.close();
+    });
+
+    // Send a message to the process, and close stdin, so the process knows to
+    // exit.
+    proc.stdin.write(message);
+    proc.stdin.close();
+
+In the simpler case of a short-running process which takes no input, and exits
+immediately after producing output, it's generally enough to simply read its
+output stream until EOF:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    let proc = await Subprocess.call({
+      command: await Subprocess.pathSearch("ifconfig"),
+    });
+
+    // Read all of the process output.
+    let result = "";
+    let string;
+    while ((string = await proc.stdout.readString())) {
+      result += string;
+    }
+    console.log(result);
+
+    // The output pipe is closed and no buffered data remains to be read.
+    // This means the process has exited, and no further cleanup is necessary.
+
+
+Bidirectional IO
+================
+
+When performing bidirectional IO, special care needs to be taken to avoid
+deadlocks. While all IO operations in the Subprocess API are asynchronous,
+careless ordering of operations can still lead to a state where both processes
+are blocked on a read or write operation at the same time. For example,
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    let proc = await Subprocess.call({
+      command: "/bin/cat",
+    });
+
+    let size = 1024 * 1024;
+    await proc.stdin.write(new ArrayBuffer(size));
+
+    let result = await proc.stdout.read(size);
+
+The code attempts to write 1MB of data to an input pipe, and then read it back
+from the output pipe. Because the data is big enough to fill both the input
+and output pipe buffers, though, and because the code waits for the write
+operation to complete before attempting any reads, the ``cat`` process will
+block trying to write to its output indefinitely, and never finish reading the
+data from its standard input.
+
+In order to avoid the deadlock, we need to avoid blocking on the write
+operation:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    let size = 1024 * 1024;
+    proc.stdin.write(new ArrayBuffer(size));
+
+    let result = await proc.stdout.read(size);
+
+There is no silver bullet to avoiding deadlocks in this type of situation,
+though. Any input operations that depend on output operations, or vice versa,
+have the possibility of triggering deadlocks, and need to be thought out
+carefully.
+
+Arguments
+=========
+
+Arguments may be passed to the process in the form an array of strings.
+Arguments are never split, or subjected to any sort of shell expansion, so the
+target process will receive the exact arguments array as passed to
+``Subprocess.call``. Argument 0 will always be the full path to the
+executable, as passed via the ``command`` argument:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    let proc = await Subprocess.call({
+      command: "/bin/sh",
+      arguments: ["-c", "echo -n $0"],
+    });
+
+    let output = await proc.stdout.readString();
+    assert(output === "/bin/sh");
+
+
+Process Environment
+===================
+
+By default, the process is launched with the same environment variables and
+working directory as the parent process, but either can be changed if
+necessary. The working directory may be changed simply by passing a
+``workdir`` option:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    let proc = await Subprocess.call({
+      command: "/bin/pwd",
+      workdir: "/tmp",
+    });
+
+    let output = await proc.stdout.readString();
+    assert(output === "/tmp\n");
+
+The process's environment variables can be changed using the ``environment``
+and ``environmentAppend`` options. By default, passing an ``environment``
+object replaces the process's entire environment with the properties in that
+object:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    let proc = await Subprocess.call({
+      command: "/bin/pwd",
+      environment: {FOO: "BAR"},
+    });
+
+    let output = await proc.stdout.readString();
+    assert(output === "FOO=BAR\n");
+
+In order to add variables to, or change variables from, the current set of
+environment variables, the ``environmentAppend`` object must be passed in
+addition:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    let proc = await Subprocess.call({
+      command: "/bin/pwd",
+      environment: {FOO: "BAR"},
+      environmentAppend: true,
+    });
+
+    let output = "";
+    while ((string = await proc.stdout.readString())) {
+      output += string;
+    }
+
+    assert(output.includes("FOO=BAR\n"));