4.0.0-rc.1on Windows: Bundled npm cannot link

[jnfingerle]

Trying out the 4.0.0 RC.1 on a Windows machine unsing npm link I get

npm ERR! Windows_NT 6.1.7601
npm ERR! argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\
node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "link"
npm ERR! node v4.0.0-rc.1
npm ERR! npm  v2.14.2
npm ERR! code ENOTSUP
npm ERR! errno 129

npm ERR! nospc npm link not supported on windows prior to node 0.7.9
npm ERR! nospc This is most likely not a problem with npm itself
npm ERR! nospc and is related to insufficient space on your system.

Log:

0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [ 'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe',
1 verbose cli   'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js',
1 verbose cli   'link' ]
2 info using npm@2.14.2
3 info using node@v4.0.0-rc.1
4 verbose stack Error: npm link not supported on windows prior to node 0.7.9
4 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.link (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\lib\link.js:33:15)
4 verbose stack     at Object.commandCache.(anonymous function) (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\lib\npm.js:220:11)
4 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.<anonymous> (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js:72:28)
4 verbose stack     at doNTCallback0 (node.js:407:9)
4 verbose stack     at process._tickCallback (node.js:336:13)
5 verbose cwd C:\somewhere
6 error Windows_NT 6.1.7601
7 error argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "link"
8 error node v4.0.0-rc.1
9 error npm  v2.14.2
10 error code ENOTSUP
11 error errno 129
12 error nospc npm link not supported on windows prior to node 0.7.9
12 error nospc This is most likely not a problem with npm itself
12 error nospc and is related to insufficient space on your system.
13 verbose exit [ 129, true ]

[rvagg]

Sorry @jnfingerle, you're going to have to file this on the https://github.com/npm/npm repo. They have a semver.satisfies(process.version, ">=0.7.9") in there for npm link and the semver module doesn't like pre-release version numbers in ranges at all (i.e. the -rc.1). I'm not a fan of this behaviour and it's going to increasingly be a problem as we make nightlies, release candidates and other unofficial releases usable by folks, but it's their call.