Proof of concept code for making a bridge for easily using spawned child processes.

zip.js

var _ = require( "lodash" ),
    spawn = require( "child_process" ).spawn;

var createSpawnBridge = function( config ) {

    var cmd = config.cmd,
        defaultArgs = config.defaultArgs || [];
        //stdio = config.stdio || 'inherit';

    return function( options ) {
        options = options || {};
        var pids = [];
        process.on( "exit", function() {
            // Make sure to kill any child processes
            if ( pids.length ) {
                pids.forEach( function( pid ) {
                    process.kill( pid );
                });
            }
        });

        var args = options.args || [],
            config = options.config || {};

        args = defaultArgs.concat( args );

        var child = spawn( cmd, args, config ),
        pid = child.pid;

        pids.push( pid );

        child.on( "error", function( e ) {
            console.log(e);
        });

        child.on( "exit", function( code, signal ) {
            pids = _.without( pids, pid );
        });

        return child;

    };

};

var createSpawnExec = function( bridge ) {

    return function( options, done ) {
        if ( typeof options === "function" ) {
            done = options;
            options = {};
        }

        var stream = bridge( options ),
            data = '';

        if ( typeof done === "function" ) {
            stream.on( 'data', function( chunk ) {
                data += chunk.toString();
            });

            stream.on( 'exit', function( code ) {
                var err = code > 0 ? code : null;

                process.nextTick( function() {
                    done( err, data );
                });
            });
        }
    };

};

var api = {

    createZipStream: createSpawnBridge({
        cmd: 'zip',
        defaultArgs: []
    }),

    zip: createSpawnExec( this.createZipStream )

};

module.exports = api;