electron-build fails with ERR_ELECTRON_BUILDER_CANNOT_EXECUTE - electron

Question

goal
I want to build an electron app ON a windows Machine for a Rasperry PI 4 running Raspbian32
configuration
"linux": {
"target" : [
{
"target": "AppImage",
"arch": ["armv7l"]
}
]
},
calling
"build-dist-lin": "webpack --mode production && electron-builder -l --config .env.json",
returned ERROR
cannot get, wait error=Get
"https://service.electron.build/find-build-agent?no-cache=1ghlrte":
dial tcp 51.15.76.176:443: connectex: A connection attempt failed
because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of
time, or established connection failed because connected host has
failed to respond.
attempt=0
waitTime=2
Error: C:\A\Repo\test\node_modules\app-builder-bin\win\x64\app-builder.exe exited with code ERR_ELECTRON_BUILDER_CANNOT_EXECUTE
No Leads
There is no further information in this log to know where then ... it goes wrong. In the same env.json I also have a Windows Configuration part which runs perfectly well with calling it with -w. So that means that the configuration is probably ok. And that means it fails somewhere else.
full log:
0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [
1 verbose cli 'C:\\A\\Tools\\nodejs\\node.exe',
1 verbose cli 'C:\\A\\Tools\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js',
1 verbose cli 'run',
1 verbose cli 'build-dist-lin'
1 verbose cli ]
2 info using npm#6.13.4
3 info using node#v12.16.1
4 verbose run-script [ 'prebuild-dist-lin', 'build-dist-lin', 'postbuild-dist-lin' ]
5 info lifecycle testingtest#0.0.39~prebuild-dist-lin: testingtest#0.0.39
6 info lifecycle testingtest#0.0.39~build-dist-lin: testingtest#0.0.39
7 verbose lifecycle testingtest#0.0.39~build-dist-lin: unsafe-perm in lifecycle true
8 verbose lifecycle testingtest#0.0.39~build-dist-lin: PATH: C:\A\Tools\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\node-gyp-bin;C:\A\Repo\testingtestplayer\node_modules\.bin;C:\Python27\;C:\Python27\Scripts;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\iCLS Client\;C:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client\;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files\Intel\WiFi\bin\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intel\WirelessCommon\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH\;C:\a\tools\nodejs\;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\Client SDK\ODBC\170\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\150\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\150\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\150\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\150\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\dotnet\;C:\a\tools\Git\cmd;C:\Users\edward.deleau\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\a\tools\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Users\edward.deleau\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Users\edward.deleau\.dotnet\tools;C:\Users\edward.deleau\.dotnet\tools
9 verbose lifecycle testingtest#0.0.39~build-dist-lin: CWD: C:\A\Repo\testingtestplayer
10 silly lifecycle testingtest#0.0.39~build-dist-lin: Args: [
10 silly lifecycle '/d /s /c',
10 silly lifecycle 'webpack --mode production && electron-builder -l --config .env.json'
10 silly lifecycle ]
11 silly lifecycle testingtest#0.0.39~build-dist-lin: Returned: code: 1 signal: null
12 info lifecycle testingtest#0.0.39~build-dist-lin: Failed to exec build-dist-lin script
13 verbose stack Error: testingtest#0.0.39 build-dist-lin: `webpack --mode production && electron-builder -l --config .env.json`
13 verbose stack Exit status 1
13 verbose stack at EventEmitter.<anonymous> (C:\A\Tools\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\index.js:332:16)
13 verbose stack at EventEmitter.emit (events.js:311:20)
13 verbose stack at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (C:\A\Tools\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-lifecycle\lib\spawn.js:55:14)
13 verbose stack at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:311:20)
13 verbose stack at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:1021:16)
13 verbose stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:286:5)
14 verbose pkgid testingtest#0.0.39
15 verbose cwd C:\A\Repo\testingtestplayer
16 verbose Windows_NT 10.0.18362
17 verbose argv "C:\\A\\Tools\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\A\\Tools\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "run" "build-dist-lin"
18 verbose node v12.16.1
19 verbose npm v6.13.4
20 error code ELIFECYCLE
21 error errno 1
22 error testingtest#0.0.39 build-dist-lin: `webpack --mode production && electron-builder -l --config .env.json`
22 error Exit status 1
23 error Failed at the testingtest#0.0.39 build-dist-lin script.
23 error This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
24 verbose exit [ 1, true ]

Answer 1

Seems to be an issue with the electron builder. Since the free service host associated with the electron builder is unavailable and there by it refuses the connection. You could monitor the issue thread from the below link. This issue has been watched along for a long time I believe.
https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues/3569

Answer 2

Unfortunately it doesn't seem that such issue will be fixed anytime soon, as we can see from the amount of (mostly open) GitHub issues that have been opened from users that are trying to deal with such problem in the past months:
service.electron.build is unavailable
Error: Cannot get, wait error=Get https://service.electron.build/find-build-agent
service.electron.build is unavailable - Urgently please suggest an alternate
Local build service not detected
Unable to build AppImage on Windows - service.electron.build
Connection to remote builder refused, while building linux package
That said, I used the following workarond using Docker that made me able to build a Linux redistributable .deb package for my Electron App from Windows 10 in less than 5 minutes:
Install Docker (link)
Download the electronuserland/builder Docker image with the following console command:
docker pull electronuserland/builder
From the Electron project's root folder (such as C:\MyApp), type the following command-line command to run the container and map the Electron project's root folder to the /project virtual path:
docker run -rm -ti -v C:\MyApp\:/project -w /project electronuserland/builder
From inside the container, type the following commands to upgrade the Electron project's Yarn packages, globally install the electron-builder package and build the Linux redistributable package:
cd /project
yarn upgrade
yarn global add electron-builder
electron-builder -l
If everything went smooth, you should be able to locate your MyApp.deb file (or rpm, AppImage, or anything you've configured within the electron-builder's package.json file) inside the Electron project's /dist/ folder.
For further info about this whole procedure and a bit of background, check out this post on my blog.