fix(smartshell): avoid triple shell nesting, improve WSL path filtering, and use chunked log buffer to reduce memory usage

changelog.md

@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 2026-03-05 - 3.3.7 - fix(smartshell)
+avoid triple shell nesting, improve WSL path filtering, and use chunked log buffer to reduce memory usage
+
+- Spawn uses the executor shell binary directly (e.g. /bin/bash) and removes extra bash -c wrapping to avoid triple shell nesting
+- Only filter out /mnt/c/ and other WSL-specific PATH entries when running under WSL (adds _isWSL detection)
+- Replace single concatenated Buffer with chunked buffering in ShellLog (lazy concatenation, logLength property) and update checks to use logLength
+- Remove unused dependency "tree-kill" from package.json
+
 ## 2026-03-04 - 3.3.6 - fix(smartshell)
 use 'close' event on child processes to ensure exit handling and update dependency versions
 

package.json

@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@
     "@push.rocks/smartexit": "^2.0.3",
     "@push.rocks/smartpromise": "^4.2.3",
     "@types/which": "^3.0.4",
-    "tree-kill": "^1.2.2",
     "which": "^6.0.1"
   },
   "files": [

pnpm-lock.yaml

@@ -20,9 +20,6 @@ importers:
       '@types/which':
         specifier: ^3.0.4
         version: 3.0.4
-      tree-kill:
-        specifier: ^1.2.2
-        version: 1.2.2
       which:
         specifier: ^6.0.1
         version: 6.0.1

ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
  */
 export const commitinfo = {
   name: '@push.rocks/smartshell',
-  version: '3.3.6',
+  version: '3.3.7',
   description: 'A library for executing shell commands using promises.'
 }

ts/classes.shellenv.ts

@@ -28,6 +28,17 @@ export class ShellEnv {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Detect if running under Windows Subsystem for Linux
+   */
+  private static _isWSL(): boolean {
+    return !!(
+      process.env.WSL_DISTRO_NAME ||
+      process.env.WSLENV ||
+      (process.platform === 'linux' && process.env.PATH?.includes('/mnt/c/'))
+    );
+  }
+
   /**
    * imports path into the shell from env if available and returns it with
    */
@@ -39,18 +50,16 @@ export class ShellEnv {
       commandPaths = commandPaths.concat(process.env.SMARTSHELL_PATH.split(':'));
     }
 
-    // lets filter for unwanted paths
-    // Windows WSL
-    commandPaths = commandPaths.filter((commandPathArg) => {
-      const filterResult =
-        !commandPathArg.startsWith('/mnt/c/') &&
-        !commandPathArg.startsWith('Files/1E') &&
-        !commandPathArg.includes(' ');
-      if (!filterResult) {
-        // console.log(`${commandPathArg} will be filtered!`);
-      }
-      return filterResult;
-    });
+    // Only filter out WSL-specific paths when actually running under WSL
+    if (ShellEnv._isWSL()) {
+      commandPaths = commandPaths.filter((commandPathArg) => {
+        return (
+          !commandPathArg.startsWith('/mnt/c/') &&
+          !commandPathArg.startsWith('Files/1E') &&
+          !commandPathArg.includes(' ')
+        );
+      });
+    }
 
     commandResult = `PATH=${commandPaths.join(':')} && ${commandStringArg}`;
     return commandResult;
@@ -89,14 +98,12 @@ export class ShellEnv {
     }
     pathString += ` && `;
 
-    switch (this.executor) {
-      case 'bash':
-        commandResult = `bash -c '${pathString}${sourceString}${commandArg}'`;
-        break;
-      case 'sh':
-        commandResult = `${pathString}${sourceString}${commandArg}`;
-        break;
-    }
+    // For both bash and sh executors, build the command string directly.
+    // The shell nesting is handled by spawn() using the appropriate shell binary.
+    // Previously bash executor wrapped in `bash -c '...'` which caused triple
+    // shell nesting (Node spawn sh -> bash -c -> command). Now spawn() uses
+    // shell: '/bin/bash' directly, so we don't need the extra wrapping.
+    commandResult = `${pathString}${sourceString}${commandArg}`;
     commandResult = this._setPath(commandResult);
     return commandResult;
   }

ts/classes.shelllog.ts

@@ -5,7 +5,41 @@ import * as plugins from './plugins.js';
  * making sure the process doesn't run out of memory
  */
 export class ShellLog {
-  public logStore = Buffer.from('');
+  private chunks: Buffer[] = [];
+  private totalLength = 0;
+
+  /**
+   * Get the accumulated log as a single Buffer.
+   * Concatenation happens lazily only when accessed.
+   */
+  public get logStore(): Buffer {
+    if (this.chunks.length === 0) {
+      return Buffer.alloc(0);
+    }
+    if (this.chunks.length === 1) {
+      return this.chunks[0];
+    }
+    // Flatten chunks into a single buffer
+    const combined = Buffer.concat(this.chunks, this.totalLength);
+    // Replace chunks array with the single combined buffer for future access
+    this.chunks = [combined];
+    return combined;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Set the log store directly (used for truncation).
+   */
+  public set logStore(value: Buffer) {
+    this.chunks = [value];
+    this.totalLength = value.length;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Get the current total length of buffered data without concatenating.
+   */
+  public get logLength(): number {
+    return this.totalLength;
+  }
 
   /**
    * log data to console
@@ -22,13 +56,9 @@ export class ShellLog {
    */
   public addToBuffer(dataArg: string | Buffer): void {
     // make sure we have the data as Buffer
-    const dataBuffer: Buffer = (() => {
-      if (!Buffer.isBuffer(dataArg)) {
-        return Buffer.from(dataArg);
-      }
-      return dataArg;
-    })();
-    this.logStore = Buffer.concat([this.logStore, dataBuffer]);
+    const dataBuffer: Buffer = Buffer.isBuffer(dataArg) ? dataArg : Buffer.from(dataArg);
+    this.chunks.push(dataBuffer);
+    this.totalLength += dataBuffer.length;
   }
 
   public logAndAdd(dataArg: string | Buffer): void {

ts/classes.smartshell.ts

@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ export class Smartshell {
 
       if (!bufferExceeded) {
         shellLogInstance.addToBuffer(data);
-        if (shellLogInstance.logStore.length > maxBuffer) {
+        if (shellLogInstance.logLength > maxBuffer) {
           bufferExceeded = true;
           shellLogInstance.logStore = Buffer.from('[Output truncated - exceeded maxBuffer]');
         }
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ export class Smartshell {
 
       if (!bufferExceeded) {
         shellLogInstance.addToBuffer(data);
-        if (shellLogInstance.logStore.length > maxBuffer) {
+        if (shellLogInstance.logLength > maxBuffer) {
           bufferExceeded = true;
           shellLogInstance.logStore = Buffer.from('[Output truncated - exceeded maxBuffer]');
         }
@@ -338,8 +338,12 @@ export class Smartshell {
       return await this._execCommandPty(options, commandToExecute, shellLogInstance);
     }
 
+    // Use the executor's shell binary directly to avoid triple shell nesting.
+    // Previously: Node spawn(shell:true) → /bin/sh → bash -c → command (3 layers)
+    // Now:        Node spawn(shell:bash) → command (1 layer)
+    const shellBinary = this.shellEnv.executor === 'bash' ? '/bin/bash' : true;
     const execChildProcess = cp.spawn(commandToExecute, [], {
-      shell: true,
+      shell: shellBinary,
       cwd: process.cwd(),
       env: options.env || process.env,
       detached: true, // Own process group — immune to terminal SIGINT, managed by smartexit
@@ -405,7 +409,7 @@ export class Smartshell {
 
       if (!bufferExceeded) {
         shellLogInstance.addToBuffer(data);
-        if (shellLogInstance.logStore.length > maxBuffer) {
+        if (shellLogInstance.logLength > maxBuffer) {
           bufferExceeded = true;
           shellLogInstance.logStore = Buffer.from('[Output truncated - exceeded maxBuffer]');
         }
@@ -426,7 +430,7 @@ export class Smartshell {
 
       if (!bufferExceeded) {
         shellLogInstance.addToBuffer(data);
-        if (shellLogInstance.logStore.length > maxBuffer) {
+        if (shellLogInstance.logLength > maxBuffer) {
           bufferExceeded = true;
           shellLogInstance.logStore = Buffer.from('[Output truncated - exceeded maxBuffer]');
         }