Command "npm install -g" causes "ERR! Cannot read property 'path' of null"

[gdennie]

attempting to enhance this image by installing Elm globally but encountering issues. It would appear that the installation process for npm is user 500 and owns and restricts access to /usr/local/lib/node_modules by default. Seems like an unnecessary constraint to impose on an already isolated environment.

Investigation revealed:

4337 error Linux 4.4.0-21-generic
4338 error argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "-g" "elm"
4339 error node v7.8.0
4340 error npm  v4.2.0
4341 error path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
4342 error code EACCES
4343 error errno -13
4344 error syscall access
4345 error Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
4345 error  { Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
4345 error   errno: -13,
4345 error   code: 'EACCES',
4345 error   syscall: 'access',
4345 error   path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules' }
4346 error Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.
4347 verbose exit [ -13, true ]

and

ls -al /usr/local/lib/node_modules
total 12
drwxrwxr-x  3 500 500 4096 Mar 29 01:27 .
drwxrwxr-x  4 500 500 4096 Mar 29 01:27 ..
drwxrwxr-x 11 500 500 4096 Mar 29 01:27 npm

where

id -nu 500
id: 500: no such user

[LaurentGoderre]

I think this is due to run npm as root. You should run it as the node user

[JustinBeckwith]

I can't seem to get this to work either. I am trying with this dockerfile:

FROM node:latest
USER node
RUN npm install -g elm
CMD ['elm', '--version']

However I still get this error:

npm WARN checkPermissions Missing write access to /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! syscall access
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR!  { Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR!   stack: 'Error: EACCES: permission denied, access \'/usr/local/lib/node_modules\'',
npm ERR!   errno: -13,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   syscall: 'access',
npm ERR!   path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules' }
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

Am I using the USER directive incorrectly?

Note: I am able to get it working by overriding the npm install dir:

FROM node:latest
USER node
RUN mkdir ~/.npm-global
ENV NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX=~/.npm-global
RUN npm install -g elm
CMD ['elm', '--version']

[SimenB]

Hmm, odd. Should we make node the owner of /usr/local? or at least /usr/local/lib/node_modules?

[SimenB]

There is #479 (comment). PR welcome!

[LaurentGoderre]

Yeah, it is definitely awkward. @SimenB does this folder even exist before running npm to begin with?

[LaurentGoderre]

Ooooh it does!!!

[SimenB]

Yup.

$ docker run node:latest ls -la /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm
total 192
drwxrwxr-x 11 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 .
drwxrwxr-x  3 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 ..
drwxrwxr-x  2 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 .github
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500  2813 Jul 19 15:54 .mailmap
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500   539 Jul 11 00:43 .npmignore
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500  1297 Jul 19 15:54 .travis.yml
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500 18878 Jul 19 15:54 AUTHORS
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500 51191 Jul 19 15:54 CHANGELOG.md
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500  4474 Jul 19 15:54 CONTRIBUTING.md
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500  9742 May 29 11:46 LICENSE
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500  5287 Jul 19 15:54 Makefile
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500  4719 Jul 19 15:54 README.md
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500  7997 Jul 19 15:54 TROUBLESHOOTING.md
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500   959 Jul 19 15:54 appveyor.yml
drwxrwxr-x  3 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 bin
drwxrwxr-x  2 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 changelogs
-rwxrwxr-x  1 500 500   521 May 29 11:46 configure
drwxrwxr-x  6 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 doc
drwxrwxr-x  4 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 html
drwxrwxr-x  8 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 lib
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500   156 May 29 11:46 make.bat
drwxrwxr-x  5 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 man
drwxrwxr-x 99 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 node_modules
-rw-rw-r--  1 500 500  6208 Jul 19 15:54 package.json
drwxrwxr-x  2 500 500  4096 Jul 20 20:59 scripts

[LaurentGoderre]

You beat me to it!!! I was going to post the same!

[SimenB]

Doing chown -R node:node /usr/local/lib/node_modules kinda works, but then it fails when trying to link binaries into /usr/local/bin/.

So either we should just set a npm prefix for the node-user somehow (.npmrc in its $HOME?) or document that consumers have to in order to use global installs as non-root

[LaurentGoderre]

Can we configure the bin folder npm uses to point to a folder that the node user owns and add that one to PATH?

[SimenB]

That's the prefix option.

See https://docs.npmjs.com/files/folders

[LaurentGoderre]

@SimenB we can move the whole global dependencies to the user space with the prefix or we can figure a way to make linked binary work in /usr/local. Maybe this deserves it's own issue.

[SimenB]

we can move the whole global dependencies to the user space with the prefix or we can figure a way to make linked binary work in /usr/local.

Setting NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX somehow for the node user makes sense to me. If it's seen as a breaking change, we should at least document that.

Maybe this deserves it's own issue.

Sure.

[LaurentGoderre]

I like the prefix better as well but the other option is potentially less disruptive

[akshay-unifi]

I am unable to install protractor globally. facing permission issue even though i am installing as root
Missing write access to /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
Please help me
Thanks in advance