[Known Issue] npm i -g nativescript error: gyp: binding.gyp not found

[danny-su]

Issue Description

npm install --global nativescript

npm WARN deprecated phin@2.9.3: Package no longer supported. Contact Support at https://www.npmjs.com/support for more info.
npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/fsevents
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command sh -c node-gyp rebuild
npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
npm ERR! gyp info using node-gyp@10.1.0
npm ERR! gyp info using node@21.7.2 | darwin | arm64
npm ERR! gyp info find Python using Python version 3.12.2 found at "/opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.12/bin/python3.12"
npm ERR! gyp info spawn /opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.12/bin/python3.12
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args [
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/node-gyp/gyp/gyp_main.py',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args 'binding.gyp',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-f',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args 'make',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-I',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/fsevents/build/config.gypi',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-I',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/node-gyp/addon.gypi',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-I',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '/Users/danny/Library/Caches/node-gyp/21.7.2/include/node/common.gypi',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-Dlibrary=shared_library',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-Dvisibility=default',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-Dnode_root_dir=/Users/danny/Library/Caches/node-gyp/21.7.2',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-Dnode_gyp_dir=/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/node-gyp',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-Dnode_lib_file=/Users/danny/Library/Caches/node-gyp/21.7.2/<(target_arch)/node.lib',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-Dmodule_root_dir=/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/fsevents',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-Dnode_engine=v8',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '--depth=.',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '--no-parallel',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '--generator-output',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args 'build',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args '-Goutput_dir=.'
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args ]
npm ERR! gyp: binding.gyp not found (cwd: /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/fsevents) while trying to load binding.gyp
npm ERR! gyp ERR! configure error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: `gyp` failed with exit code: 1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/configure.js:297:18)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:519:28)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:294:12)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! System Darwin 23.4.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! command "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/node/21.7.2/bin/node" "/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/.bin/node-gyp" "rebuild"
npm ERR! gyp ERR! cwd /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/fsevents
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node -v v21.7.2
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v10.1.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! not ok

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/danny/.npm/_logs/2024-04-09T05_55_44_073Z-debug-0.log

Reproduction

npm install --global nativescript

Relevant log output (if applicable)

No response

Environment

No response

Please accept these terms

• I have searched the existing issues as well as StackOverflow and this has not been posted before
• This is a bug report
• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[rigor789]

This is an issue introduced in NPM 10.4.0 - I have reported it here: npm/cli#7355

As a workaround:

npm i -g npm@~10.3
npm i -g nativescript

[NathanWalker]

Another issue you may see similar to this can look like this:

npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path /Users/me/Documents/project/node_modules/better-sqlite3
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command sh -c prebuild-install || node-gyp rebuild --release
npm ERR! prebuild-install warn install No prebuilt binaries found (target=20.11.0 runtime=node arch=arm64 libc= platform=darwin)
npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
npm ERR! gyp info using node-gyp@8.4.1
npm ERR! gyp info using node@20.11.0 | darwin | arm64
npm ERR! gyp info find Python using Python version 3.12.3 found at "/opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.12/bin/python3.12"
npm ERR! gyp info spawn /opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.12/bin/python3.12

... more omitted for brevity ...

npm ERR! Traceback (most recent call last):
npm ERR!   File "/Users/me/Documents/project/node_modules/node-gyp/gyp/gyp_main.py", line 42, in <module>
npm ERR!     import gyp  # noqa: E402
npm ERR!     ^^^^^^^^^^
npm ERR!   File "/Users/me/Documents/project/node_modules/node-gyp/gyp/pylib/gyp/__init__.py", line 9, in <module>
npm ERR!     import gyp.input
npm ERR!   File "/Users/me/Documents/project/node_modules/node-gyp/gyp/pylib/gyp/input.py", line 19, in <module>
npm ERR!     from distutils.version import StrictVersion
npm ERR! ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils'

You can set this in your ~/.zshrc to resolve:

export npm_config_python=/opt/homebrew/bin/python3.11

Just be sure to open new terminal tab, or source ~/.zshrc after adding.

[jono-hayward]

This is an issue introduced in NPM 10.4.0 - I have reported it here: npm/cli#7355

As a workaround:

npm i -g npm@~10.3
npm i -g nativescript

Could this workaround maybe be added to the setup documentation? Would have saved me a couple of days of googling and reinstalling things 😂

[NathanWalker]

@jono-hayward it appears fixed on cli next with npm 10.8.

For example, this is what we see when installing next - if you get a chance to confirm from your end would be great.

% npm -v
10.8.0

% npm i -g nativescript@next
npm warn deprecated osenv@0.1.5: This package is no longer supported.
npm warn deprecated read-package-json@6.0.4: This package is no longer supported. Please use @npmcli/package-json instead.
npm warn deprecated phin@2.9.3: Package no longer supported. Contact Support at https://www.npmjs.com/support for more info.
npm warn deprecated npmlog@6.0.2: This package is no longer supported.
npm warn deprecated rimraf@3.0.2: Rimraf versions prior to v4 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated rimraf@3.0.2: Rimraf versions prior to v4 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated osenv@0.1.4: This package is no longer supported.
npm warn deprecated are-we-there-yet@3.0.1: This package is no longer supported.
npm warn deprecated glob@7.2.3: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated glob@7.2.3: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated glob@7.2.3: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated glob@7.2.3: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated glob@8.1.0: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated glob@7.2.3: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated glob@7.2.3: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated gauge@4.0.4: This package is no longer supported.

removed 1 package, and changed 849 packages in 25s

76 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details
% ns -v
8.7.1-next-05-20-2024-9165247539

You can npm i -g npm and then just npm i -g nativescript@next - if that's clear for you we'll include in a patch.

[rigor789]

Fixed in https://github.com/NativeScript/nativescript-cli/releases/tag/v8.7.2