docker confuses nvm's detection of npm prefix conflict

[dtgriscom]

I'm having trouble using nvm in a Docker container. Every time I run nvm, it complains that the npm config prefix option is set. Deleting any npm prefix option doesn't help, and I'm 99.9% sure that I'm not setting it anywhere.

The problem seems to be that the actual path of the home directory (and thus .nvm directory) is /home.host/griscom, but there's a symlink from /home to /home.host, and the home directory is actually configured as /home (which is the value of $HOME). (Setting HOME to /home.host/griscom doesn't help.)

• Operating system and version:

Ubuntu 18.04 under Docker version 18.09.0, build 4d60db4; hosted on macOS 10.13.6. nvm version 0.33.11 .

• nvm debug output:

nvm --version: v0.33.11
$SHELL: /bin/sh
$SHLVL: 1
$HOME: /home/griscom
$NVM_DIR: '$HOME/.nvm'
$PATH: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/bin:$HOME/bin
$PREFIX: ''
$NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX: ''
$NVM_NODEJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
$NVM_IOJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
/bin/sh: 0: Illegal option --
shell version: ''
uname -a: 'Linux 4.9.125-linuxkit #1 SMP Fri Sep 7 08:20:28 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux'
OS version: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS  
curl: /usr/bin/curl, curl 7.58.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.58.0 OpenSSL/1.1.0g zlib/1.2.11 libidn2/2.0.4 libpsl/0.19.1 (+libidn2/2.0.4) nghttp2/1.30.0 librtmp/2.3
wget: /usr/bin/wget, GNU Wget 1.19.4 built on linux-gnu.
git: /usr/bin/git, git version 2.17.1
grep: /bin/grep, grep (GNU grep) 3.1
awk: /usr/bin/awk, GNU Awk 4.1.4, API: 1.1 (GNU MPFR 4.0.1, GNU MP 6.1.2)
sed: /bin/sed, sed (GNU sed) 4.4
cut: /usr/bin/cut, cut (GNU coreutils) 8.28
basename: /usr/bin/basename, basename (GNU coreutils) 8.28
rm: /bin/rm, rm (GNU coreutils) 8.28
mkdir: /bin/mkdir, mkdir (GNU coreutils) 8.28
xargs: /usr/bin/xargs, xargs (GNU findutils) 4.7.0-git
nvm current: system
which node: /usr/bin/node
which iojs: 
which npm: 
npm config get prefix: bash: npm: command not found
npm root -g: bash: npm: command not found

• nvm ls output:

        v8.12.0
->       system
node -> stable (-> v8.12.0) (default)
stable -> 8.12 (-> v8.12.0) (default)
iojs -> N/A (default)
lts/* -> lts/dubnium (-> N/A)
lts/argon -> v4.9.1 (-> N/A)
lts/boron -> v6.16.0 (-> N/A)
lts/carbon -> v8.15.0 (-> N/A)
lts/dubnium -> v10.15.0 (-> N/A)

• How did you install nvm? (e.g. install script in readme, Homebrew):

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.11/install.sh | bash

• What steps did you perform?

nvm use 8.12.0

• What happened?

nvm output the following error message and then failed:

nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option: currently set to "/home.host/griscom/.nvm/versions/node/v8.12.0"
Run `nvm use --delete-prefix v8.12.0` to unset it.

• What did you expect to happen?

for "nvm use" to execute properly

• Is there anything in any of your profile files (.bashrc, .bash_profile, .zshrc, etc) that modifies the PATH?

No.

The problem seems to be confusion between /home/griscom and /home.host/griscom. My Docker startup command is:

docker run  \
		--hostname dev-ubuntu-18.04 \
		--mount src=/Users/griscom,target=/home.host/griscom,type=bind \
		--mount src=dev-ubuntu-18.04,target=/data,type=volume \
		-ti dev-ubuntu-18.04:latest griscom 501 staff 20 host 

This maps my home directory to the Docker-internal directory /home.host/griscom. Then, inside Docker, /home is linked to /home.host.

Somehow, npm and nvm have different ideas of which is being used: /home.host or /home.

Below is some more info, all generated inside the Docker instance. The biggest key is that echo ~ yields /home/griscom, while npm config get prefix yields /home.host/griscom/.nvm/versions/node/v8.12.0, which has /home.host rather than /home.

griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ nvm exec 8.12.0 npm install --production
nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option: currently set to "/home.host/griscom/.nvm/versions/node/v8.12.0"
Run `nvm use --delete-prefix v8.12.0 --silent` to unset it.
Running node v8.12.0
nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option: currently set to "/home.host/griscom/.nvm/versions/node/v8.12.0"
Run `nvm use --delete-prefix v8.12.0` to unset it.
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ echo $?
127
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ echo $PATH
/home/griscom/.nvm/versions/node/v8.12.0/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/bin:/home/griscom/bin
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ echo ~
/home/griscom
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ npm config get prefix
/home.host/griscom/.nvm/versions/node/v8.12.0
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ npm config delete prefix
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ npm config get prefix
/home.host/griscom/.nvm/versions/node/v8.12.0
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ ls -l /
total 72
drwxr-xr-x   1 root root 4096 Jan  4 17:57 bin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4096 Apr 24  2018 boot/
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root 4096 Jan  4 18:18 data/
drwxr-xr-x   5 root root  360 Jan  4 20:26 dev/
-rwxr-xr-x   1 root root 1880 Jan  4 18:18 docker-entrypoint.sh*
drwxr-xr-x   1 root root 4096 Jan  4 20:26 etc/
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root   10 Jan  4 20:26 home -> /home.host/
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root 4096 Jan  4 20:26 home.host/
drwxr-xr-x   1 root root 4096 Jan  4 17:57 lib/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4096 Dec  4 17:11 lib64/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4096 Dec  4 17:11 media/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4096 Dec  4 17:11 mnt/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4096 Dec  4 17:11 opt/
dr-xr-xr-x 215 root root    0 Jan  4 20:26 proc/
drwx------   2 root root 4096 Dec  4 17:12 root/
drwxr-xr-x   1 root root 4096 Dec 28 23:22 run/
drwxr-xr-x   1 root root 4096 Dec 28 23:22 sbin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 4096 Dec  4 17:11 srv/
dr-xr-xr-x  13 root root    0 Jan  4 20:26 sys/
drwxrwxrwt   1 root root 4096 Jan  4 21:42 tmp/
drwxr-xr-x   1 root root 4096 Dec  4 17:11 usr/
drwxr-xr-x   1 root root 4096 Dec  4 17:12 var/
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $  df /home.host/
Filesystem     1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1       61252420 9157944  48953308  16% /home.host
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ cat ~/.npmrc
init.author.name=Dan Griscom
init.author.email=griscom@suitable.com
init.author.url=http://suitable.com
//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=4e6a3c35-dfae-4293-9bdd-93099c4f8ae1
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ echo $SHELL
/bin/sh
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ nvm exec 8.12.0 npm install --production
nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option: currently set to "/home.host/griscom/.nvm/versions/node/v8.12.0"
Run `nvm use --delete-prefix v8.12.0 --silent` to unset it.
Running node v8.12.0
nvm is not compatible with the npm config "prefix" option: currently set to "/home.host/griscom/.nvm/versions/node/v8.12.0"
Run `nvm use --delete-prefix v8.12.0` to unset it.
griscom@dev-ubuntu-18 $ 

[ljharb]

Indeed, nvm simply doesn't support $HOME being a symlink. It should work as a hard link; but if your home dir is a symlink there's no way nvm can work :-/

[naomiquinones]

Hi, this issue seems like it could be closed.

[ljharb]

Indeed; duplicate of #617.