External require of midi results in "process.versions is undefined" in bundle.js

Question

I am trying to browserify the node-midi npm module from justinlatimer. I installed it via npm in my project directory, then ran browserify -r midi > bundle.js. I created a bare bones html file that includes the following:

<script src="bundle.js"></script>
<script>
  var midi = require('midi');
  var input = new midi.input();
  console.log(input.getPortName(0)); // simple test to see if browserified midi works
</script>

This results in: "TypeError: process.versions is undefined" at bundle.js 90:

var fs = require('fs')
  , path = require('path')
  , join = path.join
  , dirname = path.dirname
  , exists = fs.existsSync || path.existsSync
  , defaults = {
    arrow: process.env.NODE_BINDINGS_ARROW || ' → '
    , compiled: process.env.NODE_BINDINGS_COMPILED_DIR || 'compiled'
    , platform: process.platform
    , arch: process.arch
    , version: process.versions.node // RIGHT HERE
    , bindings: 'bindings.node'
    , try: [
      // node-gyp's linked version in the "build" dir
      [ 'module_root', 'build', 'bindings' ]
      // node-waf and gyp_addon (a.k.a node-gyp)
      , [ 'module_root', 'build', 'Debug', 'bindings' ]
      , [ 'module_root', 'build', 'Release', 'bindings' ]
      // Debug files, for development (legacy behavior, remove for node v0.9)
      , [ 'module_root', 'out', 'Debug', 'bindings' ]
      , [ 'module_root', 'Debug', 'bindings' ]
      // Release files, but manually compiled (legacy behavior, remove for node v0.9)
      , [ 'module_root', 'out', 'Release', 'bindings' ]
      , [ 'module_root', 'Release', 'bindings' ]
      // Legacy from node-waf, node <= 0.4.x
      , [ 'module_root', 'build', 'default', 'bindings' ]
      // Production "Release" buildtype binary (meh...)
      , [ 'module_root', 'compiled', 'version', 'platform', 'arch', 'bindings' ]
      ]
}

I thought globals like process were supposed to be handled automatically by browserify. Any ideas?

Thank you

Answer 1

Answered on Github: https://github.com/substack/node-browserify/issues/704

From Substack:

"The midi module interfaces directly with your system hardware so this can't possibly work natively in the browser."

Because of the way the module works, it can't be browserified.