npm sometimes breaks module-loading during the install phase on windows

[nicks]

This is a tracking bug for problems that we've seen where node module-loading does not work during NPM's install phase on windows. Users typically get an error that looks like:

phantomjs@1.9.15 install C:\Users\name\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\phantomjs
node install.js
module.js:340
throw err;
^
Error: Cannot find module 'C:\Users\name\Documents\install.js'
at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:338:15)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:280:25)
at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
at startup (node.js:119:16)
at node.js:906:3

We're pretty confident that this is an NPM bug, or caused by some misconfiguration of the environment (NPM pulls a lot of random stuff from the environment). We probably can't workaround this in the phantomjs installer even if we wanted to, because it's not even able to open the phantomjs installer code.

[nicks]

(We currently do not have repro steps for this, but people who see it claim they can repro it consistently)

[nicks]

(The next steps on this bug is that someone who can reproduce it needs to step through what npm/node is doing, why is can't load modules in this mode, and file an appropriate bug against npm/node)

[UltimateFighter]

319 is not the same problem, because: "Error: Cannot find module 'c:\install.js'". Here is the missing path ever "c:\install.js"

[nicks]

The bug is that npm is not able to load the phantomjs installer code. The directory name is interesting, and possibly a clue.

[UltimateFighter]

But Phantomjs is the only one dependency from a lot of we using in our Module Directory. All other libs are loadded successfully. Perhaps it's a bug in the phantomjs Script or in the installer?

[liam-swinney]

Hi guys, not sure if this is any help but we are getting this issue randomly as well, we run it on TeamCity on a windows agent and have phantomjs installed globally. We cannot recreate this bug locally and as I say it randomly fails (then passes when we retry) and get this response:

[11:10:51][Step 3/12] > phantomjs@1.9.16 install C:\BuildAgent2\work\7ea1530d04a43808\src\FrontendBuildTasks\node_modules\karma-phantomjs-launcher\node_modules\phantomjs
[11:10:51][Step 3/12] > node install.js
[11:10:51][Step 3/12] Looks like an `npm install -g` on windows; unable to check for already installed version.
[11:10:51][Step 3/12] Downloading https://bitbucket.org/ariya/phantomjs/downloads/phantomjs-1.9.8-windows.zip
[11:10:52][Step 3/12] Saving to C:\BuildAgent2\temp\buildTmp\phantomjs\phantomjs-1.9.8-windows.zip
[11:10:52][Step 3/12] Receiving...

[11:11:01][Step 3/12] Received 7292K total.
[11:11:01][Step 3/12] Extracting zip contents
[11:11:01][Step 3/12] Removing E:\Agent 02\work\7ea1530d04a43808\src\FrontendBuildTasks\node_modules\karma-phantomjs-launcher\node_modules\phantomjs\lib\phantom
[11:11:01][Step 3/12] Copying extracted folder C:\BuildAgent2\temp\buildTmp\phantomjs\phantomjs-1.9.8-windows.zip-extract-1427368259546\phantomjs-1.9.8-windows -> E:\Agent 02\work\7ea1530d04a43808\src\FrontendBuildTasks\node_modules\karma-phantomjs-launcher\node_modules\phantomjs\lib\phantom


[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! phantomjs@1.9.16 install: `node install.js`
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! Exit status 1
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! 
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! Failed at the phantomjs@1.9.16 install script.
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! This is most likely a problem with the phantomjs package,
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! not with npm itself.
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR!     node install.js
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! You can get their info via:
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR!     npm owner ls phantomjs
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] 
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! System Windows_NT 6.1.7601
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! command "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "install"
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! cwd C:\BuildAgent2\work\7ea1530d04a43808\src\FrontendBuildTasks
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! node -v v0.10.24
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! npm -v 1.3.21
[11:11:05][Step 3/12] npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE

Hope it helps!

[StTheo]

I've been having the same issue for about a day on my Windows machine. I must have uninstalled/reinstalled node.js about a dozen times by now trying to get around this bug. I should also point out that this is the only module that behaves this way out of the several dozen I have to install, so my personal opinion is that this isn't npm's fault.

[nicks]

@StTheo if you believe you know what the problem is, feel free to send a PR to fix.

[LeviTaule]

I had had the exactly same issue here on Linux using the newest stable NPM and phantomjs builds twice, before reading EmberJS docs and then trying to install it again. Funny thing - the last time it worked. And I don't know why. I've done nothing but read the docs.

[israelsapir]

Download & Install new node js version