javascript - NodeJs setInterval without extending process life time -

i simplified better understand need: task have is, have long unknown nodejs process (with lot of queued async functions never know when finished or that) , want have update process, store current process state in database. have start (it stores "start") , end process on top of process.on('beforeexit', function () { ... });. have handle "still in running" process requested our customer. want update state every ten minutes running timestamp (this function exists , called state.setrunningstate()

now have problem how can trigger function every ten minutes. going approach trigger on each event of working process function , compares if older 10 minutes ago. problem is: times there more time without event. second option setinterval() , here question about: if use setinterval nodejs process never reach end, process run endless until interval cleared. never know when should call clearinterval()

so question is: there way create such timeout without extending life time of nodejs process. if done should end , ignore rest of interval.

contrary of comments here, not strange requirement have executed periodically while process running without making process run infinitely make quite pointless.

there built-in mechanism that. if don't want interval (or timeout) stop process exiting need use .unref() method.

instead of:

setinterval(() => {   console.log('interval'); }, 1000); 

use:

setinterval(() => {   console.log('interval'); }, 1000).unref(); 

and interval not stop process exiting if there no other events pending.

try running example:

setinterval(() => {   console.log('interval'); }, 1000).unref();  settimeout(() => {   console.log('timeout 1'); }, 3000);  settimeout(() => {   console.log('timeout 2'); }, 5000); 

see docs:

• https://nodejs.org/api/timers.html#timers_timeout_unref