Error: Can't create the symlink for multishells

[rielcfb]

CENTOS 7

• sudo user

just installed fnm using:

$ curl -fsSL https://fnm.vercel.app/install | bash
Checking dependencies for the installation script...
Checking availability of curl... OK!
Checking availability of unzip... OK!
Downloading https://github.com/Schniz/fnm/releases/latest/download/fnm-linux.zip...
######################################################################## 100.0%
Installing for Bash. Appending the following to /home/user/.bashrc:

  # fnm
  export PATH="/home/user/.local/share/fnm:$PATH"
  eval "`fnm env`"

In order to apply the changes, open a new terminal or run the following command:

  source /home/user/.bashrc

then running command:

$ source ~/.bashrc
error: Can\'t create the symlink for multishells at "/run/user/0/fnm_multishells/9715_1678542462996". Maybe there are some issues with permissions for the directory? Permission denied (os error 13)

also errors when runnng command fnm env

$ fnm env 
error: Can\'t create the symlink for multishells at "/run/user/0/fnm_multishells/9715_1678542462996". Maybe there are some issues with permissions for the directory? Permission denied (os error 13)

[far-rainbow]

the same
error: Can't create the symlink for multishells at "/run/user/0/fnm_multishells/83501_1678795858761". Maybe there are some issues with permissions for the directory? Permission denied (os error 13)
unsafe easy solution: chmod 777 /run/user/0
you can use other mod rules to allow only user you want acces to "user 0" (root) dir but how to install fnm wthout all these hacks? thanks

[lackovic]

After installing fnm, every time I open a shell I get the following error:

error: Can't create the symlink for multishells at "/run/user/1000/fnm_multishells/2354_1691420468557". Maybe there are some issues with permissions for the directory? Permission denied (os error 13)

The error happens on the execution of

eval "`fnm env`"

which was added to my .bashrc with the fnm installation.

Also, neither npm nor node are recognized as commands:

$ fnm install v18.17.0
Installing Node v18.17.0 (x64)
warning: Version already installed at "/home/marco/.local/share/fnm/node-versions/v18.17.0"

$ npm
Command 'npm' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install npm

$ node
Command 'node' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install nodejs

As workaround I changed the owner of that directory with:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) /run/user/1000/

System info:

$ lsb_release -d
Description:    Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS

[jnunderwood]

I am also getting this error, though I am trying to run fnm 1.35.1 on Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS from WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). This just started happening recently, within the past month. In my case, however, the directory /run/user/1000 does not exist.

Perhaps fnm could try creating this directory, with the proper ownership and permissions, before trying to write to it? Not sure if that is a feasible option or not. Thanks!

[geekish]

Also running into this issue, exact same setup as @jnunderwood. Worked just fine yesterday, booted up this morning after a Windows update and got the error.

[jnunderwood]

I believe I found a solution. Just set the environment variable XDG_RUNTIME_DIR to a location such as $HOME/.cache/xdgr. I added this line to my .zshrc:

export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR="$HOME/.cache/xdgr"

Now fnm will use this directory instead of /run/user/1000 for multishell support. This seems to be working for me. I'll add a new comment if this changes.

• XRef: fnm current version reset on sleep / lock / stale terminal #624 (comment)

[lackovic]

export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR="$HOME/.cache/xdgr"

I added this line to my .bashrc but I am still getting the same error every time I open a new terminal:

error: Can't create the symlink for multishells at "/run/user/1000/fnm_multishells/7064_1708262245393". Maybe there are some issues with permissions for the directory? No such file or directory (os error 2)

Since the directory $HOME/.cache/xdgr didn't exist I tried to create it but that didn't change anything.

My previous workaround doesn't work anymore, when I run:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) /run/user/1000/

now I get the error:

chown: cannot access '/run/user/1000/': No such file or directory

After I create the directory with:

sudo mkdir /run/user/1000

then I am able to apply the workaround with chown.

This works only temporarily, after some time for some reason the directory /run/user/1000 gets deleted I have to repeat running both the mkdir and the chown commands to make fnm work.

[jnunderwood]

Hi @lackovic. I was experiencing the same situation, until I made my change (above).

The only thing I can think of is that the export line in your .bashrc file must come before the fnm line, like this:

# fnm - fast node manager
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR="$HOME/.cache/xdgr"
eval "$(fnm env --use-on-cd)"

Hopefully that helps.