rh-render-process-gone log message with RoboHelp2022

[hotdocs29690230vl18]

I have installed RoboHelp 2022 on a self-hosted build agent in Azure, running Windows10. When trying to run the .exe file from an Azure DevOps pipeline, I found that I was getting the error 'rh-render-process-gone' more often than not. I then tried running RoboHelp.exe from the command line on the build agent and also got this error on occasion. I can find very little regarding this message, is there any way to find out what is causing this?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

First, I'd make sure you've got the last patch installed (#2 at May 2023) - then check to see if it's happening still. If so, your best bet is to contact the RH folks directly - see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your Adobe Support options. I'd recommend using the tcssup@adobe.com e-mail address as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including RoboHelp.

[Barry30200353uf03]

Just wondering if you ever got resolution on this.  I have the same problem.  Bottom line: running/invoking the command line call to Robohelp.exe does not work reliably whether from a Windows (10) command prompt or from a batch file.

[hotdocs29690230vl18]

Hi, no I have recieved no reply from Adobe using the email tcssup@adobe.com suggested above, I'm afraid.

[Barry30200353uf03]

Thanks for responding.  Please see another post I just made below.

[hotdocs29690230vl18]

No problem. Having read your post below, I've also received a similar email response from Adobe. If I hear anything back that may help I'll post here too.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

A quick scan of other posts reveals that it appears that there still exists a bug in the command line generation for RH2022. Looks like it had gotten fixed in RH2020.5 and then broke after that.

[Barry30200353uf03]

Thanks for the additional information; for a while, I thought I was hallucinating.   For what it's worth, on your and other's suggestions, I sent an email to tcssup and received a reply this morning effectively saying they'll look into it.  If and when I receive something meaningful, I'll post the information.

[Peter Grainge]

@Jeff_Coatsworth if Batch compile spotty in RH 2020v3 - Adobe Support Community - 11761408 is what you are referring to, I believe the fix should be in the next update but I have no date for that.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[hotdocs29690230vl18]

We still have this issue. Any updates Adobe Support Team?

[Peter Grainge]

The folks here are users like yourself. For this one you need to go to Adobe Support. See https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your Adobe Support options. The email link tcssup@adobe.com is recommended as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including RoboHelp.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What version have you patched up to now?

[WoutJacobs]

I can confirm the RH commandline tool is (still) not very reliable. My experiences with trying to publish from commandline/batch were rather frustrating.

What I've found:

• Adding a log file parameter -l heavily increases the chances of a rh-render-process-gone
• Task killing Robohelp.exe repeatedly helps to some extent.

[Peter Grainge]

@WoutJacobs That is something you need to post as a bug. Please follow this link to report bugs or request new features. https://tracker.adobe.com. Post the link to your bug report / feature request in this thread and others can vote for it. The more people who do so, the higher it gets prioritised.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Erwin Timmerman]

Has this been resolved yet? I've been testing an upgrade from 2020 to 2022.6.34  and need the CLI to work from a script, otherwise I won't be able to go through with the update. I currently get a crash before the compiling has even started: rh-render-process-gone.

If I start it from a script I get 

(node:8716) Warning: Accessing non-existent property 'padLevels' of module exports inside circular dependency
(Use `RoboHelp --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)
rh-render-process-gone

while when I start it from the commandline it compiles and stops on Resp received (sic). The part that otherwise crashes looks like 

(node:7640) Warning: Accessing non-existent property 'padLevels' of module exports inside circular dependency
(Use `RoboHelp --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)
Java found
Updating publish/templates/AEOS Release Notes PDF EN/nsm_2020_pdf_reln_mp_en.plt...
Updating contents/en/aeos_rn/aeos_release_notes_vulnerabilities.htm...
...
Broker start work: WorkDone..
Resp recieved


With HTML output, the commandline gives

Starting work in startWork..
defaultWorkerWindow is ready..
defaultWorkerWindow is ready with responseKey: f48509a4-4324-423f-a01a-038b1e5d4a3b..
defaultWorkerWindow is ready with updateKey: f48509a4-4324-423f-a01a-038b1e5d4a3b_update..
rh-render-process-gone


or, when it succeeds:

Starting work in startWork..
defaultWorkerWindow is ready..
defaultWorkerWindow is ready with responseKey: 35987776-7ce7-4646-88f0-0a1442844773..
defaultWorkerWindow is ready with updateKey: 35987776-7ce7-4646-88f0-0a1442844773_update..
Starting responsive output generation.
Processing TOC data...


UPDATE:
After some more testing I found it can fail from the commandline too and be successful from a script too, but the ratio success/fail is about 60/40 from the commandline and 20/80 from a script.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I haven't seen any mention of command line fixes in the last patch, so I suggest you contact the RH folks - see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your Adobe Support options. I'd recommend using the tcssup@adobe.com e-mail address as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including RoboHelp. 

[Attempted_Documentation]

Regarding the "rh-render-process-gone" error.  For us, Adobe Support (through  tcssup@adobe.com e-mail) was able to create a couple of batch files and a JavaScript file that run while RH is generating the outputs through the command line. The JS file watches the processes and restarts the output batch file when the render error stops progress. It has tested sucessfully over the last couple of weeks on runs of up to 64 pdf outputs. It works with html5 outputs too, but those needed to be run separately because they were larger outputs with longer generation times.

[Erwin Timmerman]

That was something I was contemplating too, just to monitor the stdout/stderr output and kill and restart if rh-render-process-gone shows up. Good to know they're now actively supporting on that email. I might give it a try if hacking this from a cmd batch file ends up being too hard 🙂 

I hope Adobe gives the CLI some TLC shortly because while the CLI is not exactly something s*xy you can show off as nice feature, a lot of power users need automated compile from a script. It's a make-or-break decision on whether to use or continue to use RH, no matter how many nice options the GUI has.

Power users usually are capable to find workarounds if need be, but it takes a lot of effort which prevents people from upgrading and just keep the version they've already made work with a lot of effort earlier. I've waited to upgrade from 2020 to 2022 exactly for this reason, and the time I needed to get it working again (different CSS folders, different master pages, PDF engine and CSS adherence has changed AGAIN, different variable set structure so I need to adjust my scripts, RH crashed because the ctaggroups and statuslist files were faulty after conversion, more unreliable CLI compile) proves that that was the right decision.

Not that I don't like the nice new features... I wouldn't do all this effort if I didn't. But I'd wish the upgrade process would be easier.