Installation failed on ubuntu 14.04 node 6.9.1 npm 3.10.8

[viyatgandhi]

I am trying to install using npm install sodium alerady have autoconf, libtool, automake, libsodium-dev, node-gyp installed on system.

log - https://gist.github.com/viyatgandhi/b3e028ed4cf41f4ce38154c058873e2c

../src/crypto_aead.cc:592:5: note: in expansion of macro ‘METHOD_AND_PROPS’
METHOD_AND_PROPS(chacha20poly1305_ietf);
^
make[1]: *** [Release/obj.target/sodium/src/crypto_aead.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory /usr/local/lib/node_modules/sodium/build' gyp ERR! build error gyp ERR! stack Error: make` failed with exit code: 2
gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.onExit (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/build.js:276:23)
gyp ERR! stack at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:191:7)
gyp ERR! stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:215:12)
gyp ERR! System Linux 3.13.0-100-generic
gyp ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
gyp ERR! cwd /usr/local/lib/node_modules/sodium
gyp ERR! node -v v6.9.1
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.4.0
gyp ERR! not ok
make: *** [nodesodium] Error 1
/usr/local/lib/node_modules/sodium/install.js:288
throw new Error(cmdLine + ' exited with code ' + code);
^

Error: make nodesodium exited with code 2
at ChildProcess. (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/sodium/install.js:288:19)
at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:191:7)
at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:215:12)
npm ERR! Linux 3.13.0-100-generic
npm ERR! argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "sodium" "-g"
npm ERR! node v6.9.1
npm ERR! npm v3.10.8
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE

npm ERR! sodium@1.2.3 install: node install.js --install
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the sodium@1.2.3 install script 'node install.js --install'.
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the sodium package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR! node install.js --install
npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
npm ERR! npm bugs sodium
npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
npm ERR! npm owner ls sodium
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR! /var/nodeapp/app/npm-debug.log

[LewdEwe-ErikWallace]

I tried installing the sodium module on a DigitalOcean server with Ubuntu 16.04 and it failed with a very similar or identical error as reported above by @viyatgandhi. There are a whole string errors, all about macro expansion as far as I can see.

Before the node-gyp build started there was also a warning about something else, but I don't know if it matters:

npm WARN lifecycle sodium@1.2.3~preinstall: cannot run in wd %s %s (wd=%s) sodium@1.2.3 node install.js --preinstall /home/test/server/node_modules/.staging/sodium-4fff6169

Here is a link to the console output from the entire node-gyp build:

https://gist.github.com/LewdEwe-ErikWallace/e85eef6ffa14d3a8e98401a05d89866d

[LewdEwe-ErikWallace]

I think I found a solution to this and it appears to be due to user permissions. I usually do my server admin by logging in as root with SSH keys. I eventually found these web pages:

npm/npm#3497
https://www.bountysource.com/issues/28871797-installing-latest-on-debian-problems-with-node-gyp

From these I tried the idea of using the --unsafe-perm flag and the sodium package seemed to install without problems. So my command usage was:

npm install sodium --save --unsafe-perm

[paixaop]

Thank you for posting the issue and solution!
I'll update the docs