[BUG] npm start suddenly started giving `npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/myuser'` as of yesterday (2023-11-30)
Open
Nobody has claimed this yet.
Bug
Priority 1
Release 10.x
- Dominant language
- JavaScript
- Stars
- 10.1k
- Forks
- 4.7k
- Avg merge
- 2d 2h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 19
Description
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 do npm start in a Docker container with a user which doesn't have a home directory. We've been doing this for several years without problems, but as of yesterday (2023-11-30) all containers suddenly get npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/myuser'. Setting NPM_CONFIG_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=false solves this problem, but we've already deployed a lot of containers without the update notifier disabled which causes a lot of problems for us.
Did something change in the response from the npm servers or do you know why this problem suddenly started happening yesterday?
Expected Behavior
npm start should start the script and not exit due to being unable to create a home folder.
Steps To Reproduce
Given the following code as repro.sh:
#!/bin/bash
cat <<EOF > Dockerfile
FROM node:20.10.0-buster-slim as production
WORKDIR /usr/src/my
COPY package.json ./
RUN groupadd -g 999 myuser && \
useradd -r -u 999 -g myuser myuser
USER myuser
WORKDIR /usr/src/my/backend
CMD [ "npm", "start", "--verbose" ]
EOF
cat <<EOF > package.json
{
"name": "myservice",
"version": "1.0.0",
"private": true,
"scripts": {
"start": "sleep 3 && echo hello!"
}
}
EOF
docker build -f Dockerfile -t myservice:tag1 .
docker run -e NPM_CONFIG_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=$NPM_CONFIG_UPDATE_NOTIFIER --rm -it myservice:tag1
./repro.sh or NPM_CONFIG_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=true ./repro.sh causes npm to exit with the following log:
[+] Building 0.1s (10/10) FINISHED docker:desktop-linux
=> [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile 0.0s
=> => transferring dockerfile: 274B 0.0s
=> [internal] load .dockerignore 0.0s
=> => transferring context: 2B 0.0s
=> [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/node:20.10.0-buster-slim 0.0s
=> [1/5] FROM docker.io/library/node:20.10.0-buster-slim 0.0s
=> [internal] load build context 0.0s
=> => transferring context: 180B 0.0s
=> CACHED [2/5] WORKDIR /usr/src/my 0.0s
=> CACHED [3/5] COPY package.json ./ 0.0s
=> CACHED [4/5] RUN groupadd -g 999 myuser && useradd -r -u 999 -g myuser myuser 0.0s
=> CACHED [5/5] WORKDIR /usr/src/my/backend 0.0s
=> exporting to image 0.0s
=> => exporting layers 0.0s
=> => writing image sha256:1c9ddb6a1864b4ad4e88b0c503ae3d645b55b8f184c45afdb27cc5e99d54bd92 0.0s
=> => naming to docker.io/library/myservice:tag1 0.0s
What's Next?
View a summary of image vulnerabilities and recommendations → docker scout quickview
npm verb cli /usr/local/bin/node /usr/local/bin/npm
npm info using npm@10.2.3
npm info using node@v20.10.0
npm verb cache could not create cache: Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/myuser'
npm verb logfile could not create logs-dir: Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/myuser'
npm verb title npm start
npm verb argv "start" "--loglevel" "verbose"
npm verb logfile logs-max:10 dir:/home/myuser/.npm/_logs/2023-12-01T12_42_57_202Z-
npm verb logfile could not be created: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/myuser/.npm/_logs/2023-12-01T12_42_57_202Z-debug-0.log'
npm verb logfile no logfile created
> myservice@1.0.0 start
> sleep 3 && echo hello!
npm verb stack Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/myuser'
npm verb cwd /usr/src/my/backend
npm verb Linux 6.4.16-linuxkit
npm verb node v20.10.0
npm verb npm v10.2.3
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! syscall mkdir
npm ERR! path /home/myuser
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/myuser'
npm ERR! [Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/myuser'] {
npm ERR! errno: -13,
npm ERR! code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR! syscall: 'mkdir',
npm ERR! path: '/home/myuser'
npm ERR! }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user
npm ERR!
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator.
npm verb exit -13
npm verb unfinished npm timer command:start 1701434577260
npm verb unfinished npm timer command:run-script 1701434577267
npm verb code -13
npm ERR! Log files were not written due to an error writing to the directory: /home/myuser/.npm/_logs
npm ERR! You can rerun the command with `--loglevel=verbose` to see the logs in your terminal
But NPM_CONFIG_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=false ./repro.sh works:
[+] Building 0.1s (10/10) FINISHED docker:desktop-linux
=> [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile 0.0s
=> => transferring dockerfile: 274B 0.0s
=> [internal] load .dockerignore 0.0s
=> => transferring context: 2B 0.0s
=> [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/node:20.10.0-buster-slim 0.0s
=> [1/5] FROM docker.io/library/node:20.10.0-buster-slim 0.0s
=> [internal] load build context 0.0s
=> => transferring context: 180B 0.0s
=> CACHED [2/5] WORKDIR /usr/src/my 0.0s
=> CACHED [3/5] COPY package.json ./ 0.0s
=> CACHED [4/5] RUN groupadd -g 999 myuser && useradd -r -u 999 -g myuser myuser 0.0s
=> CACHED [5/5] WORKDIR /usr/src/my/backend 0.0s
=> exporting to image 0.0s
=> => exporting layers 0.0s
=> => writing image sha256:1c9ddb6a1864b4ad4e88b0c503ae3d645b55b8f184c45afdb27cc5e99d54bd92 0.0s
=> => naming to docker.io/library/myservice:tag1 0.0s
What's Next?
View a summary of image vulnerabilities and recommendations → docker scout quickview
npm verb cli /usr/local/bin/node /usr/local/bin/npm
npm info using npm@10.2.3
npm info using node@v20.10.0
npm verb cache could not create cache: Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/myuser'
npm verb logfile could not create logs-dir: Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/myuser'
npm verb title npm start
npm verb argv "start" "--loglevel" "verbose"
npm verb logfile logs-max:10 dir:/home/myuser/.npm/_logs/2023-12-01T12_43_50_048Z-
npm verb logfile could not be created: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/myuser/.npm/_logs/2023-12-01T12_43_50_048Z-debug-0.log'
npm verb logfile no logfile created
> myservice@1.0.0 start
> sleep 3 && echo hello!
hello!
npm verb exit 0
npm info ok
Environment
- npm: 10.2.3
- Node.js: v20.10.0
- OS Name: Debian buster slim
- System Model Name: Macbook Pro (but happens on Linux hosts as well)
- npm config:
; node bin location = /usr/local/bin/node
; node version = v20.10.0
; npm local prefix = /usr/src/my
; npm version = 10.2.3
; cwd = /usr/src/my/backend
; HOME = /home/myuser
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by running repro.sh with the Dockerfile and package.json, comparing npm start with NPM_CONFIG_UPDATE_NOTIFIER enabled and disabled. Trace the npm CLI path involved in the update notifier, cache, and log-directory handling. Done means npm start runs successfully for a user without a home directory and the relevant regression is covered.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- docker, javascript, nodejs, shell
- Domain
- cli, devtools
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100