add support for fetch timeout control for node_helpers, fix timeouts on armv6l (#3660)

user reporting slow/no connection/timeout errors on armv6l for calendar,
and newsfeed

we can increase the timeout by adding calls to the undici lib, but it
requires node 20.18.1 or above.

this adds the support for timeout
(also environment variable to override if needed,, mmFetchTimeout
(default 30 seconds)

and updates the base node version

Author: sdetweil

.github/workflows/automated-tests.yaml

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
     timeout-minutes: 30
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        node-version: [20.9.0, 20.x, 22.x, 23.x]
+        node-version: [20.18.1, 20.x, 22.x, 23.x]
     steps:
       - name: "Checkout code"
         uses: actions/checkout@v4

.github/workflows/electron-rebuild.yaml

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        node-version: [20.9.0, 20.x, 22.x, 23.x]
+        node-version: [20.18.1, 20.x, 22.x, 23.x]
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ _This release is scheduled to be released on 2025-01-01._
 - [linter] Add linting for markdown files (#3646)
 - [calendar] Add ability to display end date for full date events, where end is not same day (showEnd=true) (#3650)
 - [core] Add text to the config.js.sample file about the locale variable (#3654, #3655)
+- [core] Add fetch timeout for all node_helpers (thru undici, forces node 20.18.1 minimum) to help on slower systems.
 
 ### Changed
 

js/app.js

@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ const Utils = require(`${__dirname}/utils`);
 const defaultModules = require(`${__dirname}/../modules/default/defaultmodules`);
 const { getEnvVarsAsObj } = require(`${__dirname}/server_functions`);
 
+// used to control fetch timeout for node_helpers
+const { setGlobalDispatcher, Agent } = require("undici");
+// common timeout value, provide environment override in case
+const fetch_timeout = process.env.mmFetchTimeout !== undefined ? process.env.mmFetchTimeout : 30000;
+
 // Get version number.
 global.version = require(`${__dirname}/../package.json`).version;
 global.mmTestMode = process.env.mmTestMode === "true" ? true : false;
@@ -295,6 +300,8 @@ function App () {
 			}
 		}
 
+		setGlobalDispatcher(new Agent({ connect: { timeout: fetch_timeout } }));
+
 		await loadModules(modules);
 
 		httpServer = new Server(config);