[BUG] Exit handler never called!

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

When I try to install the dependencies of The Odin Project JavaScript exercises repository, npm throws the error Exit handler never called! and suggests me to report it.

I am using another log file, because the original one got cleared as I ran npm install multiple times (on which gave an unrelated error. Since I do not know how to read it, I hope that it is a duplicate of the original file: 2026-01-24T13_10_19_302Z-debug-0.log

0 verbose cli /home/op/.nvm/versions/node/v24.13.0/bin/node /home/op/.nvm/versions/node/v24.13.0/bin/npm
1 info using npm@11.6.2
2 info using node@v24.13.0
3 silly config load:file:/home/op/.nvm/versions/node/v24.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc
4 silly config load:file:/home/op/workspace/studies/forks/javascript-exercises/.npmrc
5 silly config load:file:/home/op/.npmrc
6 silly config load:file:/home/op/.nvm/versions/node/v24.13.0/etc/npmrc
7 verbose title npm view case-anything description dist-tags.latest homepage version time
8 verbose argv "view" "--json" "--" "case-anything" "description" "dist-tags.latest" "homepage" "version" "time"
9 verbose logfile logs-max:10 dir:/home/op/.npm/_logs/2026-01-24T13_10_19_302Z-
10 verbose logfile /home/op/.npm/_logs/2026-01-24T13_10_19_302Z-debug-0.log
11 silly logfile start cleaning logs, removing 1 files
12 silly logfile done cleaning log files
13 http fetch GET https://registry.npmjs.org/case-anything attempt 1 failed with ETIMEDOUT
14 http fetch GET https://registry.npmjs.org/case-anything attempt 2 failed with ETIMEDOUT
15 http fetch GET https://registry.npmjs.org/case-anything attempt 3 failed with ETIMEDOUT
16 verbose type system
17 verbose stack FetchError: request to https://registry.npmjs.org/case-anything failed, reason: 
17 verbose stack     at ClientRequest.<anonymous> (/home/op/.nvm/versions/node/v24.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/minipass-fetch/lib/index.js:130:14)
17 verbose stack     at ClientRequest.emit (node:events:508:28)
17 verbose stack     at emitErrorEvent (node:_http_client:108:11)
17 verbose stack     at _destroy (node:_http_client:962:9)
17 verbose stack     at onSocketNT (node:_http_client:982:5)
17 verbose stack     at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:90:21)
18 error code ETIMEDOUT
19 error errno ETIMEDOUT
20 error network request to https://registry.npmjs.org/case-anything failed, reason: 
21 error network This is a problem related to network connectivity.
21 error network In most cases you are behind a proxy or have bad network settings.
21 error network
21 error network If you are behind a proxy, please make sure that the
21 error network 'proxy' config is set properly.  See: 'npm help config'
22 verbose cwd /home/op/workspace/studies/forks/javascript-exercises
23 verbose os Linux 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
24 verbose node v24.13.0
25 verbose npm  v11.6.2
26 verbose exit 1
27 verbose code 1
28 error A complete log of this run can be found in: /home/op/.npm/_logs/2026-01-24T13_10_19_302Z-debug-0.log

Expected Behavior

The repository dependencies should be installed normally with the 'npm install' command.

Steps To Reproduce

1. In this environment of The Odin Project JavaScript exercises repository
2. With this config that I do not know where it is, so I assume it is the default one
3. Run 'npm install'
4. See error Exit handler never called!

Environment

• npm: 11.6.2
• Node.js: v24.13.0
• OS Name: WSL 2, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
• System Model Name: Windows 10 Pro

Start by reproducing npm install in the reported The Odin Project JavaScript exercises repository with Node.js v24.13.0 and npm 11.6.2 on WSL2 Ubuntu. Read the attached debug log, especially the case-anything request timeout and the reported “Exit handler never called!” message. Done means the failure is reproduced and its cause or a verified fix is identified.