René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"node --process-timeout blames the main thread when exit waits on a blocked Worker","articleBody":"### Version\n\nmain\n\n### Platform\n\n```text\nAll\n```\n\n### Subsystem\n\nsrc (`--process-timeout`)\n\n### What steps will reproduce the bug?\n\n```js\nimport { Worker } from 'node:worker_threads';\n\nconst worker = new Worker(`\n  const { execFileSync } = require('node:child_process');\n  const { parentPort } = require('node:worker_threads');\n  parentPort.postMessage('blocking');\n  execFileSync(process.execPath, ['-e', 'setTimeout(() => {}, 10_000)']);\n`, { eval: true });\n\nworker.once('message', () => {\n  setTimeout(() => process.exit(0), 200);\n});\n```\n\nRun with\n```console\nnode --process-timeout=1s repro.js\n```\n\n### How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?\n\nAlways\n\n### What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?\n\nThe message should say the process was already exiting, as it does when the same Worker blocks a natural exit (e.g. `worker.unref()` instead of `process.exit(0)`):\n\n```console\n(node:PID) Process timed out after 1s (--process-timeout). Exiting with code 124.\nThe process did not finish exiting after the event loop had stopped.\n```\n\nThe main thread is blocked, but only because the exit path is joining a Worker thread that is stuck in `execFileSync`, not because of a synchronous operation in user code.\n\n### What do you see instead?\n\n```console\n(node:PID) Process timed out after 1s (--process-timeout). Exiting with code 124.\nThe main thread did not respond within 2000ms. It is likely blocked in a synchronous native operation, e.g. child_process.execSync() or a native addon, so no JavaScript stack or resource information is available.\n```\n\n### Additional information\n\nThis is not specific to `process.exit()`. The same message appears when the process exits because of an uncaught exception or an unhandled rejection, e.g. replace `process.exit(0)` in the repro with `throw new Error('boom')` or `Promise.reject(new Error('boom'))`.","author":{"url":"https://github.com/trivikr","@type":"Person","name":"trivikr"},"datePublished":"2026-09-27T21:41:35Z","url":"https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/66360"}