socket.close() is not a function in Node.js 8.x+

[knightcode]

I found that logging stopped after leaving the process running for some time. This error was printed to the local console:

[winston] Attempt to write logs with no transports {"level":"error","message":"Error getting objectsForIDs:"}
Jun 18 20:26:02 ip-172-31-11-65 nodejs[8718]: Unhandled rejection TypeError: this.socket.close is not a function
Jun 18 20:26:02 ip-172-31-11-65 nodejs[8718]:     at _close (/.../node_modules/winston-syslog/lib/winston-syslog.js:201:23)
Jun 18 20:26:02 ip-172-31-11-65 nodejs[8718]:     at Syslog.close

There is no close method documented on net.Socket here: nodejs.org. There is a destroy method, though.

[peebles]

I see this too, when using TCP. I also see

Error: Unhandled "error" event. (true)

This is due to line #269

callback(true);

which leads to #136

return callback(err);

which presumably leads to winston doing an emit('error') which I was not listening for. I think maybe line #136 should check to see if err === true, which is really not an error.

Both of these issues (emit(error) and faulty socket.close()) happen only when using TCP.

[massimopibiri]

Hi guys,
did you find a solution for this problem?

[peebles]

Its been too long and I don't recall. I know that in general, winston 3.x has given me nothing but trouble and I've usually backed off to winston 2.x, and backed off any plugins so they work with 2.x.
I also remember that at some point I wrote my own "syslog" plugin that did what I wanted. And later, I've started working with AWS cloud watch instead of syslog.

[knightcode]

See my comment on the other issue I posted. I forked the repo and made a simple fix.

#103 (comment)

[timdp]

I didn't check with winston 2, but with @knightcode's patch, my Node process doesn't exit after the destroy() call. With require('active-handles').print(), I can see that it's keeping not one but two connections open:

onStreamRead: internal/stream_base_commons.js:87:21 (net client connection, fd = 17)
function onStreamRead(nread, buf) {
  const handle = this;
...

onStreamRead: internal/stream_base_commons.js:87:21 (net client connection, fd = 19)
Count: 2. Source printed above

[cloverb]

We're seeing this issue as well using:

Node 10.14.0
winston 3.2.1
winston-syslog 2.1.0

@knightcode's patch appears to resolve the issue.

What kind of repo or logs would you need to see to review either of these PRs @DABH @indexzero?
#109
#112

[DABH]

I've merged the relevant PRs that fix these issues and will cut a v2.2.0. Thanks folks. If you spot other issues related to this, please feel free to open new issues/PRs and I'll see what I can do.