npm install on create-daml-app fails with npm=9.3.1, nodejs=18.14.0

[cocreature]

Running npm install on create-daml-app (after generating the files is) fails because it cannot find a file:

[nix-shell:~/create-daml-app/ui]$ npm install
npm ERR! code ENOENT
npm ERR! syscall open
npm ERR! path /home/moritz/create-daml-app/ui/node_modules/@daml.js/40f452260bef3f29dede136108fc08a88d5a5250310281067087da6f0baddff7/package.json
npm ERR! errno -2
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/moritz/create-daml-app/ui/node_modules/@daml.js/40f452260bef3f29dede136108fc08a88d5a5250310281067087da6f0baddff7/package.json'
npm ERR! enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoent 

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/moritz/.npm/_logs/2023-02-07T14_53_57_699Z-debug-0.log

I think it may be an NPM 8 vs NPM 9 issue.

You can repro with

NIX_PATH=nixpkgs=https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/e75e7234275c413d038341764a3426245e0fb174.zip nix-shell -p nodejs-18.x

[basvangijzel-DA]

This is also a problem on Windows (and our Windows ad-hoc machines).

NPM version: 9.3.1
Node version: 10.4.0

[basvangijzel-DA]

C:\daml\create-daml-app\ui>npm install
npm ERR! code ENOENT
npm ERR! syscall open
npm ERR! path C:\daml\create-daml-app\ui\node_modules\@daml.js\40f452260bef3f29dede136108fc08a88d5a5250310281067087da6f0baddff7/package.json
npm ERR! errno -4058
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'C:\daml\create-daml-app\ui\node_modules\@daml.js\40f452260bef3f29dede136108fc08a88d5a5250310281067087da6f0baddff7\package.json'
npm ERR! enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoent

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\u\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2023-02-08T15_31_42_737Z-debug-0.log

[basvangijzel-DA]

It is indeed likely npm 9 that is at fault. When downgrading to the things that come with the 10.3.0 release:

NPM version: 8.19.3
Node version 10.3.0

Everything works

[garyverhaegen-da]

This seems relevant: nodejs/node#46542.

Running

npm install --install-links false

works for me on both macOS and Windows. From what I can gather this used to be the default but they changed it in (Node) 18.14; there seems to be a chance they'll reverse that, so I'm not sure what the appropriate action is on our side.

Updating the instructions seems like a good approach as it should be harmless either way (i.e. whichever default they end up sticking with, explicitly setting the value should work).

[pragmaxim]

npm install --install-links false actually works on Linux too with :

  npm: '9.4.0',
  node: '19.6.1',

There is a lot of great daml examples out there but they are hard to run due to nodejs version issues.

[pragmaxim]

well, npm start then fails as node_modules/@daml.js/ is empty :-/

[garyverhaegen-da]

well, npm start then fails as node_modules/@daml.js/ is empty :-/

I don't have a Linux environment handy right now, but that shouldn't be the case. Can you double-check you have run daml codegen js before npm install?

[pragmaxim]

I don't have a Linux environment handy right now, but that shouldn't be the case. Can you double-check you have run daml codegen js before npm install?

Yes I did, it ends up with the same error as in #16258 (comment)

One time I worked around that issue manually by commenting out daml.js dep and installing it afterwards but then I got this on npm start (on a different project) :

Error: error:0308010C:digital envelope routines::unsupported
    at new Hash (node:internal/crypto/hash:71:19)
    at Object.createHash (node:crypto:140:10)

I've played with a bunch of daml projects and they all worked fine on Node version 16.16.0. Making them work with 18.14.0+ is beyond my frontend skills.

[garyverhaegen-da]

It looks like it got fixed on the node side - at least for me the GSG now works out of the box (i.e. without having to add the --install-links flag) for 2.5.5 and 2.6.0 (both unreleased as of yet, but still) on Node 18.14.2 (npm 9.5.0).

[garyverhaegen-da]

Closing as this is fixed as far as I can tell. Should anyone encounter this issue again please open a new ticket for it.