pg doesn't install with npm on Windows

[chowey]

There is a problem installing pg on Windows with npm. This is due to the script that pg tries to run on install. The error message looks like this:

c:\node>npm install pg

> pg@0.6.3 install c:\node\node_modules\pg
> node-waf configure build || true

'node-waf' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
'true' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
npm ERR! error installing pg@0.6.3 Error: pg@0.6.3 install: `node-waf configure
build || true`
... (blah blah blah)

As you can see, "true" is not a recognized command on Windows.

Is there a Windows-friendly way to rephrase the install script, something other than "node-waf configure build || true"? I know that something like "node-waf configure build || exit 0" would work, but I don't know what that does in Linux or Mac OSX.

[fabioboris]

Hello,

As we can see in:
isaacs/npm@1ae770e

But now, when I try to install, I just get a "Unknown System"...

C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs>npm install pg
npm ERR! error installing pg@0.6.6 Error: connect Unknown system errno 10060
npm ERR! error installing pg@0.6.6 at errnoException (net.js:614:11)
npm ERR! error installing pg@0.6.6 at Object.afterConnect as oncomplete
npm ERR! Error: connect Unknown system errno 10060
npm ERR! at errnoException (net.js:614:11)
npm ERR! at Object.afterConnect as oncomplete
npm ERR! Report this entire log at:
npm ERR! http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR! npm-@googlegroups.com
npm ERR!
npm ERR! System Windows_NT 6.1.7601
npm ERR! command "C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\node.exe" "C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js" "install" "pg"
npm ERR! cwd C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs
npm ERR! node -v v0.6.1
npm ERR! npm -v 1.0.105
npm ERR! code Unknown system errno 10060
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR! C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\npm-debug.log
npm not ok

[chowey]

Hrm, the patch works for me. Do you have "node-waf" on your system? Or it may be some other problem with npm.

You can also try my updated patch, which uses a different approach. It has two files:

• Use "bin/true.cmd" at df3fb1847052ec4e6a6ff357d827b957b57a149e
• Use "lib/utils/exec.js" at ce9d148893d78d009c0daea27f933c94d6d6ea87

However, the point of this issue was that we can also make the pg install script more Windows-friendly instead of trying to rewrite npm. I was hoping someone with more cross-platform experience could suggest an alternate to using "node-waf configure build || true" that will work everywhere.

[chowey]

A temporary fix for Windows users is to create a file called "true.cmd" with the following contents:

exit 0

and place it in the same folder as node.exe.

[brianc]

thanks chowey. Off the top of your head do you know any exit code both unix and windows shell will accept? Should be a super easy patch once that's figured out.

[defunctzombie]

Is it worth building the c++ bindings at all any more? Are they still maintained? I thought they were deprecated in favor of the native ones.

[brianc]

Hmmm...I believe the c++ bindings should work just fine in node v0.4.x and node v0.6.x. They're not deprecated and are still maintained for non-windows systems. Once the 'addon story' for windows is complete I'd like to get the c++ bindings working there as well, actually.

I suppose for the time being I could check & see if the system is windows & abort the build process at the beginning with an 'exit 0'

[chowey]

I don't know any exit code that unix/windows/mac os all have in common. I was looking for a bit but didn't find one. I saw one suggestion to use color as a windows-alternative to true, but alas unix doesn't have a color command.

Maybe do something like node-waf configure build || true || color? Cryptic, but should work.

color doesn't cause the current session to exit, like exit 0 does. I don't think it makes a difference for our purposes but it is probably better practice.

[defunctzombie]

Is it not possible to just have the wscript file detect if libpg is available and exit cleanly if it is not? It is python so you could just do the exit there.

[chowey]

The point is that I don't have node-waf on my computer. This shouldn't block me from installing pg entirely.

[chowey]

The reference about the color command being a substitute to true comes from ss64.com:

true

Do nothing, returning a zero (true) exit status

...

Equivalent Windows command: The COLOR command can be used be used to set an %errorlevel%

[brianc]

you can use npm install pg --force in the meantime

[chowey]

Erm, I don't think this works. --force just forces npm to fetch the tarball newly from the npm registry.

[chowey]

Per isaacs/npm#1625, node-waf configure build || (exit 0) can also be used in unix. In fact, the current version of npm just switched to this instead of || true. Can anyone verify it works in *nix?

[samuelbosch]

Adding the true.cmd worked for me. But I noted another smaller issue: npm installs the package in whatever directory your command window is at that moment instead of in the Users\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules.

[chowey]

That's how npm works. If you want to do a global install into %AppData%, you need to use npm install pg -g.