Exec not returning anything when trying to run git shortlog with nodejs

Question

I'm trying to get the result of git shortlog on a repository with nodejs this way:

var exec = require('child_process').exec; exec("cd /tmp/"+folder +" && git shortlog", {maxBuffer: 500*1024}, function(error, stdout, stderror){ console.log(arguments); });

My callback is never called with this method, the program appears processing something indefinitely.

When I launch this command in my prompt I've the results.

Trying to redirect the result to a file create an empty file :

"cd /tmp/"+folder +" && git shortlog > stats.txt"

But if I use git log instead I've got my results.

Do you know why my callback is never called with git shortlog ?

Edit : I've the same result using spawn :

exec("cd /tmp/"+folder, function(err){ if(err){ throw err; } var shortlog = spawn('git', ['shortlog']); shortlog.stdout.on('data', function (data) { console.log('stdout: ' + data); }); shortlog.stderr.on('data', function (data) { console.log('stderr: ' + data); }); shortlog.on('close', function (code) { console.log('child process exited with code ' + code); }); });

Edit 2 : process.chdir() doesn't change anything :

process.chdir('/tmp/'+folder); var shortlog = spawn('git', ['shortlog']); shortlog.stdout.on('data', function (data) { console.log('stdout: ' + data); });

you could try swapping out exec for spawn and see what events are firing. — generalhenry
– generalhenry, Commented Mar 22, 2013 at 6:38
Next stab: nodejs.org/api/process.html#process_process_chdir_directory use process.chdir instead of exec "cd ..." — generalhenry
– generalhenry, Commented Mar 22, 2013 at 7:13
Arg, thanks for this answer but I've the same behviour. I've edited my post — manuquentin
– manuquentin, Commented Mar 22, 2013 at 8:25

robertklep · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-22 08:45:53Z

git shortlog thinks that it has to read something from stdin, hence the indefinite wait. Try this:

exec('git shortlog < /dev/tty', { cwd : "/tmp/" + folder }, function(err, stdout, stderr) { console.log(arguments); });

Gökay Gürcan · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-08 11:42:43Z

Since @robertklep 's answer is correct, I'm afraid it's not complete as well. On *nix systems, yes, you can use it with /dev/tty but on Windows this will throw an error like

The system cannot find the path specified.

To solve this problem on Windows, you can simply do this:

var exec = require('child_process').exec; var tty = process.platform === 'win32' ? 'CON' : '/dev/tty'; exec('git shortlog < ' + tty, { cwd : '/tmp/' + folder }, function(error, stdout, stderr) { console.log(arguments); });

Simon A. Eugster · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-10 08:51:44Z

I just stumbled over this issue too. All other git commands including git log etc. worked, but shortlog would never return. In the end, ChatGPT could answer the reason why – for some reason, when running git shortlog from Node.js, shortlog wants a revision and expects it from stdin. By adding HEAD as revision, the command terminates.

// Fails because shortlog indefinitely waits from stdin // Manually closing stdin does not help either and just returns no output child_process.spawn('git', [ 'shortlog', '-nse', '--', filename ], { cwd: mydir }); // WORKS with specifying a revision number child_process.spawn('git', [ 'shortlog', '-nse', 'HEAD', '--', filename ], { cwd: mydir });

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