Older Versions of Node.js Require Downgrading Python 3 to Install Node.js from Source

[zvakanaka]

When running nvm install 14 on Apple Silicon (M2), I got the following error message when Node.js 14.21.3 was attempted to be installed from source (since pre-built Apple Silicon versions of Node.js are only available for Node.js 15 and onward, and since it also does not exist in the unofficial builds):

Node.js configure: Found Python 3.11.3...
Please use python3.10 or python3.9 or python3.8 or python3.7 or python3.6 or python3.5 or python2.7.

which python3 showed /opt/homebrew/bin/python3.

I fixed this error and was able to get nvm install 14 to build from source by downgrading Python 3 with pyenv global 3.10.11 2.7.18 (after installing that version with pyenv install 3.10).

For the Future

The configure file within the node-v14.21.3.tar.xz file in the archives is outdated and only checks for up to Python version 3.10.z.

The latest version of the configure file does have support for Python 3.11.z:

node/configure

Line 26 in 959142a

acceptable_pythons = ((3, 11), (3, 10), (3, 9), (3, 8), (3, 7), (3, 6))

But what about Python 3.12.z and so on? Currently, the config file will need to be updated every time a new version of Python 3 becomes available. This may be by design (it may not be safe to assume that all future versions of Python 3 will work with the build scripts), but I would like to raise this question:

Would it be sufficient to check for any version of Python 3?

[mscdex]

Node v14.x is EOL, so it will not be receiving any more updates. Currently node v18.x is the latest LTS branch and node v20.x is the latest non-LTS branch.

See the nodejs/Release repo for more information on the release schedule and which branches are currently supported.

[zvakanaka]

@mscdex Thank you for the quick reply. The acceptable_pythons list of tuples in the current configure file in main will continue to need to be updated in order to keep up with new Python 3.x.y versions. Would it be sufficient to check for any version of Python 3? https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/959142a4652f7b6e90743be874fe9c065ed31d99/configure

[bnoordhuis]

Would it be sufficient to check for any version of Python 3?

We could change it to check if python is >= x.y. Should be fairly safe.

[glassdimlygr]

What is the workaround for this?