PowerShell cannot find executable, but which and bash can

[felixfbecker]

Steps to reproduce

I have this PATH:

/Users/felix/src/ps-nvm/vs/v10.10.0/bin:./node_modules/.bin:/usr/local/opt/qt/bin:/Users/felix/google-cloud-sdk/bin:/Users/felix/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin:/usr/local/go/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/Commands:/Library/TeX/texbin:/usr/local/microsoft/powershell/6:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

/Users/felix/src/ps-nvm/vs/v10.10.0/bin contains a node binary:

-rwxr-xr-x  1 felix  staff  39631440 Sep  6 22:40 /Users/felix/src/ps-nvm/vs/v10.10.0/bin/node

Running which node correctly returns:

> which node
/Users/felix/src/ps-nvm/vs/v10.10.0/bin/node

And running bash -c 'node' also invokes node correctly.

I also checked that no other other directory in PATH contains a bad symlink named node.

Expected behavior

Running node should invoke the NodeJS binary.

Actual behavior

PowerShell invokes the Node function from DSC.

Get-Command node returns this:

> Get-Command node

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Function        Node                                               0.0        PSDesiredStateConfiguration

Environment data

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      6.1.0
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    6.1.0
OS                             Darwin 18.0.0 Darwin Kernel Version 18.0.0: Wed Aug 22 20:13:40 PDT 2018; root:xnu-4903.201.2~1...
Platform                       Unix
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

[mklement0]

This happens whenever the PSDesiredStateConfiguration module happens to be loaded, because its Node function then takes precedence over the node external utility, based on the usual command-form precedence rules.

(I'm not sure why and when, but in VSCode I have at times ended up with PSDesiredStateConfiguration imported, without my having done so explicitly.)

PowerShell still knows about the external utility, though, as running Get-Command -All node will show you.

# If DSC isn't loaded, 'node' invokes the external utility by that name in $env:PATH
PS> Remove-Module -EA Ignore PSDesiredStateConfiguration; Get-Command node

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Application     node                                               0.0.0.0    /usr/local/bin/node

# Once DSC is loaded, its Node function takes precedence.
PS> Import-Module  PSDesiredStateConfiguration; Get-Command node

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Function        Node                                               0.0        PSDesiredStateConfiguration

# Use -All to show all available command forms.
PS> Import-Module  PSDesiredStateConfiguration; Get-Command -All node

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Function        Node                                               0.0        PSDesiredStateConfiguration
Application     node                                               0.0.0.0    /usr/local/bin/node

If this were Windows, you could use .exe to disambiguate, but on Unix-like platforms that's not an option.

[felixfbecker]

How could it have happened that I loaded this module? This happens to me on a fresh terminal instance

[mklement0]

The - obviously cumbersome - workaround:

PS> & (Get-Command -CommandType Application node) --version # OK, calls Node.js
v10.7.0

POSIX-like shells have syntactic sugar (quoting any part of the command name to request bypassing aliases) and built-in helper functions (command, which bypasses functions too) to deal with this scenario.

Perhaps we need something similar in PowerShell.

[felixfbecker]

&(which node) works fine too. But I don't want to use a workaround, what I really want to know is how DSC ends up in the session without me ever calling any command from it or importing it. I don't use DSC, but I use node all the time.

[mklement0]

@felixfbecker: The likeliest explanation is that something in your $PROFILE caused the module to be loaded - it doesn't happen for me, on any platform.

Try pwsh -noprofile -command "get-command node" to see if it happens without your profile as well.

[SeeminglyScience]

(I'm not sure why and when, but in VSCode I have at times ended up with PSDesiredStateConfiguration imported, without my having done so explicitly.)

In VSCode, intellisense will import modules that are not already loaded for syntax/parameters/argument completers.

May not be related to the original issue, just wanted to clear that up.

[felixfbecker]

Is there a way to trace when modules get loaded?

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has not had any activity in 6 months, if this is a bug please try to reproduce on the latest version of PowerShell and reopen a new issue and reference this issue if this is still a blocker for you.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has not had any activity in 6 months, if this is a bug please try to reproduce on the latest version of PowerShell and reopen a new issue and reference this issue if this is still a blocker for you.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has not had any activity in 6 months, if this is a bug please try to reproduce on the latest version of PowerShell and reopen a new issue and reference this issue if this is still a blocker for you.

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

This issue has been marked as "No Activity" as there has been no activity for 6 months. It has been closed for housekeeping purposes.