NODE | macOS fix node-gyp

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Research | macOS fix node-gyp

Node

Update asdf

asdf plugin-update --all
asdf update

(source)

node installed with homebrew and asdf

I had node installed with brew previously, but I use asdf now. During my research I found answers indicating I must completely deinstall node.

• https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/removing-npm.html
• https://stackabuse.com/how-to-uninstall-node-js-from-mac-osx/
• https://stackoverflow.com/a/62356228/1238150

# I did not remove ~/.nvm and ~/.npmrc though
sudo rm -rf ~/.npm ~/node_modules ~/.node-gyp
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/bin/node-debug /usr/local/bin/node /usr/local/bin/node-gyp

# In retrospect I’d not do this, or you delete the man page for node and npm (https://askubuntu.com/a/244810).
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* /usr/local/share/man/man1/npm*

# I did not remove this, as `/usr/local/include/node/openssl` was still there and I
# had issues with `openssl` in the past.
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node /usr/local/include/node_modules

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node /usr/local/lib/node_modules /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
sudo rm -rf /opt/local/include/node /opt/local/bin/node /opt/local/lib/node
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/doc/node
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/systemtap/tapset/node.stp

brew uninstall node

# I also removed yarn at the same time
brew uninstall yarn

brew doctor

# I did not run this though.
brew cleanup --prune-prefix

Verify if npx is only installed by asdf:

type -a npx
# npx is /Users/<username>/.asdf/shims/npx

Check global installed node packages

npm list -g --depth 0

When switching the global node version, deinstall packages and install them again in the new system version. In general removing global installations from older node versions is a good thing to do (source).

node-gyp and Python

node-gyp says it works with Python > 3.x, but only when used with a proper npm version (which comes with its own node-gyp version). You can read more about this in the sections below.

I did not test setting the Configuring Python Dependency though.

# run "which python" first to get the path
npm config set python /path/to/executable/python

• https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp#on-macos

node-gyp and python@2.7.x

I had to install and use python@2.7.13 with node@12.16.0 after I read this:

It might not be node-gyp. Apparently it uses python 3 since version 5.5, although some windows users still report issues. It likely stems from node-sass using an older node-gyp dependency as indicated by a comment in the link below.

nodejs/node-gyp#1977

(source)

It still looks like some dependencies use Python@2.7.x (proofed here as well as mentioned also here, here and here), which causes node-gyp errors.

# e.g. with asdf
asdf install python 2.7.13
asdf install nodejs 12.14.1
# node@v12.14.1
# npm@6.13.4

Only then CRA (and other commands) worked again.

At this point my global .tool-versions looks like this:

nodejs 12.16.0
python 2.7.13
yarn 1.22.4

Upgrade npm to update npm-internal node-gyp with Python@3.x support

npm comes with an internal version of node-gyp (source). This can also cause issues (when old versions are used). You can update npm (and consequently node-gyp)

# https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf/issues/162#issuecomment-383286403
cd ~/.asdf/installs/nodejs/[VERSION]/lib && npm i npm

# https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf/issues/162#issuecomment-321791251
asdf reshim nodejs

(source)

It is also documented here:

You do not need Python 2.7 in order to run node-gyp. Python 3 has been supported since version 5.0.5. If you have verified that your issue is python related, as in that node-gyp is trying to run a script which contains errors according to the python 3 interpreter, then try the following:

• Update your global node-gyp install. npm install -g node-gyp
• Update your npm install. npm install -g npm

Both modules are separate, npm will have its own copy of node-gyp. If you are trying to link a local package, for instance, npm will use its own copy of node-gyp. However, if you run node-gyp from the command line, it will use the other.

CRA

npx create-react-app

npx searches for globally-accessible bins, but also the bin folder of every node_modules at or above your current working directory. You probably have create-react-app installed higher in your directory tree. You can test this by seeing if adding the ignore existing flag makes it work: npx --ignore-existing create-react-app newapp.

(source, but also mentioned here)

Although npx --ignore-existing create-react-app newapp worked (when npx create-react-app newapp did not), I figured that removing old node files (see other chapter), removing the global CRA installation and using an python@2.7 again helped.

I did not test npx create-react-app@latest myapp though (was also mentioned).

Remove global CRA installation

When you got the following error, you have to remove the old global CRA installation:

A template was not provided. This is likely because you're using an outdated version of create-react-app.

➜ type -a create-react-app
create-react-app is /usr/local/bin/create-react-app

If this still exists, run this to uninstall it (according to this issue).

rm -rf /usr/local/bin/create-react-app

Xcode

node-gyp requires XCode's Command Line Tools. You have to verify they are installed and work.

node-gyp, XCode and Command Line Tools

Test if the Command Line Tools are properly installed with this tutorial.

Uninstall XCode and Command Line tools

killall Xcode
xcrun -k
xcodebuild -alltargets clean
rm -rf "$(getconf DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR)/org.llvm.clang/ModuleCache"
rm -rf "$(getconf DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR)/org.llvm.clang.$(whoami)/ModuleCache"
rm -rf /Applications/Xcode.app
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode
rm -rf ~/Library/Developer
rm -rf ~/Library/MobileDevice
rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist
rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.xcodebuild.plist
sudo rm -rf /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeExtensionSupport.bom
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeExtensionSupport.plist
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeSystemResources.bom
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeSystemResources.plist
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.Xcode.bom

(https://medium.com/@onexlab.io/uninstall-xcode-from-macos-eca1b69dc836)

Install Command Line Tools

Install XCode from the App Store and then you can install the Command Line Tools afterward. Just download and install them manually.

Troubleshooting

TypeError: '>=' not supported between instances of 'tuple' and 'str'

This error happens, when an old version of node-gyp is used with python@3.x. Ensure you install the latest node-gyp with npm to overwrite their internal node-gyp version (see Python section above for more details).

npm explore npm -g -- npm install node-gyp@latest
npm explore npm -g -- npm explore npm-lifecycle -- npm install node-gyp@latest

• nodejs/node-gyp#1917 (comment)

make failed with exit code 2

• Some also mentioned that downgrading node resolves the issue too, as npm comes with its own node-gyp! This is related to the Python@2.x issue mentioned above.
• https://codeforgeek.com/make-failed-with-exit-code-2/ (mentioned here, and here)

This is amazing, thank you so much!

This is amazing, thank you so much!

You're welcome. I am happy this was of help for you @guychouk.

been here, done that. thanks for the gist

Hi @janpauldahlke,

I'm glad it helped you!

Hi !
In our case, all we had to do was to follow this doc and run:

npm install -g node-gyp
npm config set node_gyp <path to node-gyp>

Hope this helps !

Thank you very much for this gist!! It helped me solve an issue with heroku cli that isn't even commented here haha.

I tried to run a heroku run from the terminal and got the error:

Running pg_dump -s -x -O $DATABASE_URL on test-le-svc-order-syd... done
    TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'statusCode')

The things I did that helped solving this issue was:

1. Changed my 20.0.0 global version in ~/.tools-version to latest Node v18 LTS (18.18.0)
2. Ran the steps from this section: https://gist.github.com/natterstefan/ad1c98193b41a75a275d5e17d4f79859#upgrade-npm-to-update-npm-internal-node-gyp-with-python3x-support
3. Ran npm explore npm -g -- npm install node-gyp@latest

Hi @rubenbelem,

I'm happy that the gist was of help to you and thanks for extending the range of solutions for this problem by providing further instructions.