René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"watch: NODE_OPTIONS filter misses underscore aliases like --watch_path, causing recursive spawning","articleBody":"### Version\n\nmain\n\n### Platform\n\n```text\nAll\n```\n\n### Subsystem\n\nwatch\n\n### What steps will reproduce the bug?\n\n```console\nprintf 'console.log(\"APP-EXECUTED\");\\n' > app.js\n```\n\n```console\nNODE_OPTIONS='--watch_path=./' node app.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 child spawned by watch mode should have the watch flags stripped from `NODE_OPTIONS`, exactly as the dash spelling is. `--watch-path=./` prints `APP-EXECUTED` then `Completed running 'app.js'. Waiting for file changes...` and settles at one process.\n\nThe C++ layer treats `_` and `-` as equivalent in option names, so the two spellings must not differ in behavior.\n\n### What do you see instead?\n\nNo output at all; the application never executes. Each descendant re-enters watch mode and spawns another\n\n### Additional information\n\n_No response_","author":{"url":"https://github.com/trivikr","@type":"Person","name":"trivikr"},"datePublished":"2026-09-28T02:07:35Z","url":"https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/66364"}