npm fails to install @vue/cli

[izznogooood]

anders@yoga:~/dev$ sudo npm install -g @vue/cli
npm WARN deprecated cross-spawn-async@2.2.5: cross-spawn no longer requires a build toolchain, use it instead
/usr/local/bin/vue -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@vue/cli/bin/vue.js
npm WARN lifecycle The node binary used for scripts is /snap/bin/node but npm is using /snap/node/1426/bin/node itself. Use the `--scripts-prepend-node-path` option to include the path for the node binary npm was executed with.

> protobufjs@6.8.8 postinstall /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@vue/cli/node_modules/protobufjs
> node scripts/postinstall

2019/01/03 23:37:51.453025 cmd_run.go:835: WARNING: cannot create user data directory: cannot create "/nonexistent/snap/node/1426": mkdir /nonexistent: permission denied
cannot create user data directory: /nonexistent/snap/node/1426: Permission denied
npm WARN optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: fsevents@1.2.4 (node_modules/@vue/cli/node_modules/fsevents):
npm WARN notsup SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Unsupported platform for fsevents@1.2.4: wanted {"os":"darwin","arch":"any"} (current: {"os":"linux","arch":"x64"})

npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! protobufjs@6.8.8 postinstall: `node scripts/postinstall`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Failed at the protobufjs@6.8.8 postinstall script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/anders/.npm/_logs/2019-01-03T22_37_52_173Z-debug.log

[chrislea]

We just package up npm as it comes bundled with Node, we don't develop it or support it. I think you'll probably need to open up an issue with the Npm folks to see what's going on. Hope this helps!

[izznogooood]

I get that, but this problem is snap specific. It does not happen when I install node from the Repo's.
Do with the information as you like ;)

[chrislea]

Yes, but again, that's why I think this is an issue for Npm. IIRC, the npm command does a number of things to try and figure out where to put stuff when you install a package. For example, if it's a local install, it figures out where your home directory is and where you're installing to, and makes decisions based on that.

In the case of a -g global install, I think it tries to figure out where the node binary is, and then tries to install files parallel to that (please don't hold me to this, it's been a long time since I've looked at it, and I've never worked on npm directly). So for example, our deb packages install it to /usr/bin, and a global npm install command will try to put things under /usr/lib in that case. This works as long as you have root or sudo permissions to let you write files there.

However, this will fail for a snap package as that's not how SquashFS (part of the packaging format for snaps) works since it's a read-only filesystem. So I think for this to do what you expect, npm would need to be aware that node is installed as part of a snap package, and make some new decision about where to put files based on that information. So I think this one is for the Npm folks, not us.

[florinutz]

in the meantime, your node snap is unusable. Maybe you could warn people with something like "snap is broken, we're waiting on npm to adapt their stuff to our stuff"

[erreur404]

I managed to install it by installing yarn first, and then use it to install vue cli :

sudo npm install -g yarn
yarn global add @vue/cli