Exporting Node module from promise result

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Modules in Node that you load with require() are loaded synchronously and it is not possible for require to return any value that is loaded asynchronously. It can return a promise but then users of that module would have to use it as:

require('module-name').then(value => {
  // you have your value here
});

It would not be possible to write:

var value = require('module-name');
// you cannot have your value here because this line
// will get evaluated before that value is available

Of course you can have the promise resolved inside of your module and make it set a property on the exported object by adding something like this:

module.exports = { GEM_HOME: null };

and changing:

module.exports = GEM_HOME

to:

module.exports.GEM_HOME = GEM_HOME

In that case, every other module that uses this module as:

var x = require('module-name');

will have x.GEM_HOME originally set to null but it would eventually get changed to a correct value some time later. It would not be available right away though, because require() returns before the promise is settled and the value is set.

There is an ongoing discussion to introduce asynchronous module loading with different syntax and semantics that may be suited for your use case. It’s a controversial subjects and it’s worth reading all of the rationale behind it – see:

See also this answer for more details:

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