Module.globalPaths under Windows

[qfox]

• Version: 4.3—6.0
• Platform: Windows 32, 64

Looks like code at https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/lib/module.js#L590:

var paths = [path.resolve(process.execPath, '..', '..', 'lib', 'node')];

is Unix specific and since nodejs is installed as c:\program files\nodejs\node.exe the base path resolved to 'C:\\Program Files\\lib\\node', and it's pointless.

Guess this should be fixed to path.resolve(process.env.AppData, 'npm', 'node_modules') for windows, or something similar since right there node_modules are placed by default in win7+.

[jasnell]

@nodejs/ctc @orangemocha ... thoughts on this one?

[mscdex]

/cc @nodejs/platform-windows

[qfox]

It's definitely not a feature request since atm it does not allow to require globally installed modules because of this bug.

node -p "require('npm');" // Cannot find module
npm i -g anything
node -p "require('anything');" // Still cannot find module

[orangemocha]

AFAIK requiring a module installed with npm install -g some-module is not supposed to work.

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

• Install it locally if you're going to require() it.
• Install it globally if you're going to run it on the command line.
• If you need both, then install it in both places, or use npm link.

Agreed that that code is Unix-specific. From https://nodejs.org/api/modules.html#modules_loading_from_the_global_folders:

Additionally, Node.js will search in the following locations:
1: $HOME/.node_modules
2: $HOME/.node_libraries
3: $PREFIX/lib/node

None of those paths make sense on Windows, and the use of process.env.USERPROFILE on Windows is undocumented. I think we should fix _initPaths to only support NODE_PATH on Windows, and update the documentation accordingly.

[jasnell]

I think we should fix _initPaths to only support NODE_PATH on Windows, and update the documentation accordingly.

SGTM

[jasongin]

Don't overlook the line in the documentation immediately following the listing of search locations:

Additionally, Node.js will search in the following locations:
1: $HOME/.node_modules
2: $HOME/.node_libraries
3: $PREFIX/lib/node
Where $HOME is the user's home directory, and $PREFIX is Node.js's configured node_prefix.

I think many Windows users would reasonably interpret "the user's home directory" to be %USERPROFILE% on Windows. So dropping support for loading modules from 1 and 2 above could be considered a breaking change. (And that may be fine, since all these ways of finding modules are essentially deprecated anyway. But it should be deliberate.)

I agree that the 3rd location based on $PREFIX doesn't make sense on Windows.

[nicksoph]

Ran into this whilst trying to setup working files which are held locally on several machines and synced via the cloud which makes global installs problematic. It seems sensible that a configuration file be held at a fixed location in relation to the install but that initial configuration file should be capable of pointing to a second configuration file where all other file paths may be referenced so as to allow the configuration of different machines to point to the same data. This would allow for a separation of what is synced (and is the same) and what is not (which may be different).

[Trott]

Should this remain open? If so, is it a documentation issue or more than that?

[richardlau]

#9283 fixed the global paths folder on Windows.