Subject: Re: bug#59188: [PATCH 0/4] gnu: node-lts: Update to 18.12.1.

From: Jelle Licht <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2023 14:10:45 +0100

Hello Hilton, other folks,

Hilton Chain <[email-masked]> writes:

> node-acorn fails in check phase.
> #+RESULTS:
> : starting phase `check'
> : npm ERR! Missing script: "test"
> : npm ERR!
> : npm ERR! To see a list of scripts, run:
> : npm ERR!   npm run
> <snip>

This is due to a change in how npm treats the 'test' command; before,
having no "scripts.test" entry in package.json lead to a placeholder of 
"echo 'Error: no test specified'" (with a status code of 0).

More recently, npm was changed to make `npm test' like any other `npm
run XYZ' command. This means that all of the packages that fail like
this due to upgrading node/npm should be get a `#:tests? #f'.

> Then node-uglify-js
> #+RESULTS:
> : starting phase `configure'
> : npm ERR! code 254
> : npm ERR! path /gnu/store/969597ncg311d3kd8vbhdlniwqg4mr2k-node-acorn-8.4.1/lib/node_modules/acorn
> : npm ERR! command failed
> : npm ERR! command sh -c -- cd ..; npm run build:main && npm run build:bin
> <snip>

This is due to the fact that the `prepare' scripts is being run for our
installed node-acorn. Apparently, the fact that it previously did not
happen was a bug that was fixed somewhere between node 14 and 18 [1][2].

I do not know what the best approach is here. Consider patching the
"scripts.prepare" entry in node-acorn, and if we find we need to do this
often, we can introduce a convenience function similar to
`delete-dependencies' to streamline this.

> One test failed after deleting node-uglify-js's configure phase.
> #+RESULTS:
> : 1 test(s) failed!
> :
> : test/reduce.js
> :   1) Should reduce test case which differs only in Error.message
> : AssertionError [ERR_ASSERTION]: Expected values to be strictly equal:
> : + actual - expected
> :
> : + `try{null[function(){}]}catch(e){console.log(e)}\n// output: TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'function(){}')\n// \n// minify: TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'function() {}')\n// \n// options: {\n//   "compress": false,\n//   "mangle": false,\n//   "output": {\n//     "beautify": true\n//   }\n// }`
> : - `try{null[function(){}]}catch(e){console.log(e)}\n// output: TypeError: Cannot read property 'function(){}' of null\n// \n// minify: TypeError: Cannot read property 'function() {}' of null\n// \n// options: {\n//   "compress": false,\n//   "mangle": false,\n//   "output": {\n//     "beautify": true\n//   }\n// }`
> :     at Function.<anonymous> (/tmp/guix-build-node-uglify-js-3.13.9.drv-0/source/test/mocha/reduce.js:285:16)
> :     at run (/tmp/guix-build-node-uglify-js-3.13.9.drv-0/source/test/mocha.js:79:18)
> :     at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:77:11)
> : error: in phase 'check': uncaught exception:
> : %exception #<&invoke-error program: "/gnu/store/l32l0i53ik9ja3fircdd89bgq6b1v6y5-node-18.12.1/bin/npm" arguments: ("test") exit-status: 1 term-signal: #f stop-signal: #f>
> : phase `check' failed after 264.2 seconds
> : command "/gnu/store/l32l0i53ik9ja3fircdd89bgq6b1v6y5-node-18.12.1/bin/npm" "test" failed with status 1
>
> Then node-string-decoder fails to install, I have no idea how to continue...
> #+RESULTS:
> : starting phase `install'
> : npm info using [email-masked]
> : npm info using [email-masked]
> : npm timing npm:load:whichnode Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing config:load:defaults Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing config:load:file:/gnu/store/l32l0i53ik9ja3fircdd89bgq6b1v6y5-node-18.12.1/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc Completed in 2ms
> : npm timing config:load:builtin Completed in 3ms
> : npm WARN config production Use `--omit=dev` instead.
> : npm timing config:load:cli Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing config:load:env Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing config:load:project Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing config:load:file:/tmp/guix-build-node-string-decoder-1.3.0.drv-0/npm-home-0/.npmrc Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing config:load:user Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing config:load:file:/gnu/store/ansccgk9y8vzd5rwsx4iz7j2n0gp8ig8-node-string-decoder-1.3.0/etc/npmrc Completed in 2ms
> : npm timing config:load:global Completed in 2ms
> : npm timing config:load:validate Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing config:load:credentials Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing config:load:setEnvs Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing config:load Completed in 9ms
> : npm timing npm:load:configload Completed in 9ms
> : npm timing npm:load:mkdirpcache Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing npm:load:mkdirplogs Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing npm:load:setTitle Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing config:load:flatten Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing npm:load:display Completed in 4ms
> : npm timing npm:load:logFile Completed in 3ms
> : npm timing npm:load:timers Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing npm:load:configScope Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing npm:load Completed in 19ms
> : npm timing arborist:ctor Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing idealTree:init Completed in 4ms
> : npm timing idealTree:userRequests Completed in 30ms
> : npm timing idealTree:#root Completed in 16ms
> : npm timing idealTree:node_modules/string_decoder Completed in 3ms
> : npm timing idealTree:node_modules/string_decoder/node_modules/safe-buffer Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing idealTree:buildDeps Completed in 20ms
> : npm timing idealTree:fixDepFlags Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing idealTree Completed in 56ms
> : npm timing reify:loadTrees Completed in 57ms
> : npm timing reify:diffTrees Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing reify:retireShallow Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing reify:createSparse Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing reify:trashOmits Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing reify:loadBundles Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing reify:audit Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing reifyNode:node_modules/string_decoder/node_modules/safe-buffer Completed in 5ms
> : npm timing reifyNode:node_modules/string_decoder Completed in 12ms
> : npm timing reify:unpack Completed in 13ms
> : npm timing reify:unretire Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing build:queue Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing build:deps Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing build:queue Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing build:links Completed in 1ms
> : npm timing build Completed in 2ms
> : npm timing reify:build Completed in 2ms
> : npm timing reify:trash Completed in 0ms
> : npm timing command:install Completed in 83ms
> : npm ERR! Cannot set properties of null (setting 'dev')

This is due to either a newly introducded bug, or perhaps more likely,
an unfortunate sequence of interactions in arborist. I've done some
bisecting, and got things to work with a hack.

Relevants parts of arborist were rewritten in version 6, whereas we are
stuck with 5.4.XYZ, making a proper backport highly unlikely.

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
+           ;; TODO: Work around issue in that is fixed in [email-masked]/[email-masked]/node@19+
+           (add-after 'patch-hardcoded-program-references
+                      'patch-broken-arborist
+             (lambda* (#:key inputs #:allow-other-keys)
+               (substitute* "deps/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/calc-dep-flags.js"
+                 (("if \\(node\\.isLink\\)")
+                  "if (node.isLink && node.target)"))))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

In addition it some of the packages in node-xyz.scm that involve
replacing the 'configure phase are also failing. For some reason, this
updated version of npm seems to want to have access to either some
cached metadata or the actual npm packages for each of the specified
devDependencies[3]. This can be worked around by introducing a
'patch-dependencies phase for impacted packages, and patching out all
devDependencies. AFAICS this applies for (at least) these packages:

- node-buffer-crc32
- node-crx3
- node-minimist
- node-pbf
- node-protocol-buffers-schema
- node-protobuf-schema
- node-ieee754
- node-yazl

HTH

You have my gratitude for working on this Hilton! 
 - Jelle

[1]: https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/459

[2]: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v9/commands/npm-install

[3]: My guess: npm wants to be able to construct a 'proper'
package-lock.json, for which it needs some metadata from the npm
registry. I've already checked if adding '--no-package-lock' fixes the
issue, but while it indeed ensures no package-lock.json is generated, it
sadly doesn't address the issue. IWBN if there were some magical
invocation(s) for npm that allow these packages to actually be packaged
by distributions...