[BUG] NPM stopped creating node_modules/.bin folder

[mykola-mokhnach]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

We can observe that after installing the Node.js version 22.5.0 on the Github ubuntu-latest runner no node_modules/.bin folder is being created for package installations. This renders all utils, like eslint or mocha unavailable. The same works fine with previous node versions.

See the job https://github.com/appium/appium-mac2-driver/actions/runs/10004344335/job/27652861367?pr=311 for more details.

All other jobs with lower node versions pass with exactly the same config.

Expected Behavior

The node_modules/.bin folder must be there after package installation.

Steps To Reproduce

1. ubuntu-latest GH actions image
2. https://github.com/appium/appium-mac2-driver/blob/a05fa4b38803dbf1e6b1d46567be4d9c21d3284f/.github/workflows/unit-test.yml
3. Run npm install then run npm run lint
4. Error in the terminal: eslint: command not found

Environment

• npm: 10.8.2
• Node.js: 22.5.0
• OS Name: ubuntu-latest (24.04)
• System Model Name: GH Actions Runner
• npm config: -

[mchmatt]

This is just a side effect - the step above it is failing silently (see #7672):

As a quick fix, make setup-node use v22.4 instead of latest

[milaninfy]

Closing duplicate of #7657.
Try node 22.4.1 with npm 10.8.2.

[mykola-mokhnach]

thanks for the suggestion @milaninfy

Unfortunately it is not so simple for this particular case to use another Node.js version as they are retrieved automatically based on the latest LTS snapshots:

jobs:
  prepare_matrix:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      versions: ${{ steps.generate-matrix.outputs.active }}
    steps:
    - name: Select all active LTS versions of Node.js
      id: generate-matrix
      uses: msimerson/node-lts-versions@v1

  test:
    needs:
    - prepare_matrix
    strategy:
      matrix:
        node-version: ${{ fromJSON(needs.prepare_matrix.outputs.versions) }}
    runs-on: macos-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      with:
        node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}

We'd probably need to wait for the next node patch 🤷

[Sebastian-Webster]

Hi @mykola-mokhnach, a quick workaround for that problem would be to set the node version manually like this:

jobs:
  test:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        node-version: [18.x, 20.x, 22.4.1]
    runs-on: macos-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      with:
        node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}

and then once the patch for Node.js comes out you can go back to using the node-lts-versions action

[Sebastian-Webster]

Hi @mykola-mokhnach, never mind, Node.js 22.5.1 has came out and fixes that issue. nodejs/node#53902 (comment)