appmap-node command fails, presumably due to Windows path issue

[kgilpin]

[dividedmind]

Could this be related to a space in the user home directory path? Nb, I tried reproducing this by putting both appmap-node and the target project on a space-containing path on Linux, but it works for me. Perhaps there is something else going on or the problem is Windows-specific.

[dividedmind]

Another user saw this, they say they definitely didn't have a space in the path, so this must be something else. In case it's relevant, the OP was running Node 20.11.

[zermelo-wisen]

Steps to reproduce:

• Set up a Windows environment (e.g., create a Windows VPS on AWS)
• Create a user with a space in the user name: “John Doe”
• Switch to the new user
• Install Node to the default location
• npm init a trivial project
• Run npx app map-node rpm run test

This will result in the reported error:

It seems that the issue lies in the npm cache path, which contains a space from the username.

npm config get cache
C:\Users\John Doe\AppData\Local\npm-cache

To resolve this, eliminate the space in the npm cache path by using the 8-character version of the Windows user folder name. You can find out the 8-character user folder name with dir c:\users /x. For this example, John Doe becomes JOHNDO~1.

npm config set cache "C:\Users\Johndo~1\AppData\Local\npm-cache"

This should resolve the issue.

Similar issue is reported with different packages run with npx. Most relevant one is this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58354348/windows-10-npx-create-react-app-myapp-command-does-not-work-because-of-whit.

Additionally, you may encounter a different error before this one above, even if you don't have spaces in the user name:

The workaround for this is to create the $USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\npm folder manually. This is reported here: npm/cli#6971

[kgilpin]

Let’s add to our docs on appmap.io

…

On Fri, Mar 8, 2024 at 03:37 zermelo-wisen ***@***.***> wrote: Steps to reproduce: - Set up a Windows environment (e.g., create a Windows VPS on AWS) - Create a user with a space in the user name: “John Doe” - Switch to the new user - Install Node to the default location - npm init a trivial project - Run npx app map-node rpm run test This will result in the reported error. It seems that the issue lies in the npm cache path, which contains a space from the username. npm config get cache C:\Users\John Doe\AppData\Local\npm-cache To resolve this, eliminate the space in the npm cache path: npm config set cache "C:\Users\John~1\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache" --global This should resolve the issue. Similar issue is reported with different packages run with npx. Most relevant one is this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58354348/windows-10-npx-create-react-app-myapp-command-does-not-work-because-of-whit . — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#122 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAVC6ZUUPDIPZLS4ZQFWFDYXF2DFAVCNFSM6AAAAABEDFT2PCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMYTSOBVGI3TCNRXGY> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[dividedmind]

Seems like another workaround is to npm install -g npm@7: npm/cli#502

[dividedmind]

@zermelo-wisen, could you verify npm install -g npm@7 indeed fixes the problem?

[zermelo-wisen]

@zermelo-wisen, could you verify npm install -g npm@7 indeed fixes the problem?

I tried it, unfortunately not. npm@7 is an old version now anyway.

[dividedmind]

@zermelo-wisen, could you verify npm install -g npm@7 indeed fixes the problem?

I tried it, unfortunately not. npm@7 is an old version now anyway.

Yeah, I suspected as much :/ Thanks for checking. Did you find a current bug report in npx for this issue? Because it seems npm/cli#502 is out of date.

[zermelo-wisen]

I checked the issues list, but couldn't find any.

[dividedmind]

It's actually our bug, I'm going to fix it.