Why do I need Python?

[glen-84]

I get the following output when installing [email protected]:

$ npm install
npm WARN install Couldn't install optional dependency: Unsupported
npm WARN prefer global [email protected] should be installed with -g

> [email protected] install D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\bufferutil
> node-gyp rebuild


D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\bufferutil>if not defined npm_config_node_gyp (node "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\node-gyp-bin\\..\..\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js" rebuild )  else (node  rebuild )
gyp ERR! configure error
gyp ERR! stack Error: Can't find Python executable "python", you can set the PYTHON env variable.
gyp ERR! stack     at failNoPython (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\configure.js:116:14)
gyp ERR! stack     at C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\configure.js:71:11
gyp ERR! stack     at FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:82:15)
gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 6.1.7601
gyp ERR! command "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
gyp ERR! cwd D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\bufferutil
gyp ERR! node -v v4.1.0
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.0.1
gyp ERR! not ok
npm WARN install:bufferutil [email protected] install: `node-gyp rebuild`
npm WARN install:bufferutil Exit status 1

> [email protected] install D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\utf-8-validate
> node-gyp rebuild


D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\utf-8-validate>if not defined npm_config_node_gyp (node "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\node-gyp-bin\\..\..\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js" rebuild )  else (node  rebuild )
gyp ERR! configure error
gyp ERR! stack Error: Can't find Python executable "python", you can set the PYTHON env variable.
gyp ERR! stack     at failNoPython (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\configure.js:116:14)
gyp ERR! stack     at C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\configure.js:71:11
gyp ERR! stack     at FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:82:15)
gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 6.1.7601
gyp ERR! command "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
gyp ERR! cwd D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\utf-8-validate
gyp ERR! node -v v4.1.0
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.0.1
gyp ERR! not ok
npm WARN install:utf-8-validate [email protected] install: `node-gyp rebuild`
npm WARN install:utf-8-validate Exit status 1

> [email protected] install D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\node-sass
> node scripts/install.js

Binary downloaded and installed at D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\node-sass\vendor\win32-x64-46\binding.node

> [email protected] postinstall D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\spawn-sync
> node postinstall


> [email protected] postinstall D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\node-sass
> node scripts/build.js

` D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\node-sass\vendor\win32-x64-46\binding.node ` exists.
 testing binary.
Binary is fine; exiting.
npm WARN prefer global [email protected] should be installed with -g

> [email protected] install D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\node-sass
> node scripts/install.js


> [email protected] postinstall D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\node-sass
> node scripts/build.js

` D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\node-sass\vendor\win32-x64-46\binding.node ` exists.
 testing binary.
Binary is fine; exiting.

> [email protected] postinstall D:\Programming\Git\github\x\node_modules\spawn-sync
> node postinstall

Do I really have to install Python, or is this a bug?

[saper]

bufferutil is not required by node-sass.

You need Python and a C++ to be able to compile native modules. Normally node-sass fetches the binary for you, if you are on a supported platform - as you see above, it downloaded fine.

But your particular problem is about https://github.com/websockets/bufferutil and not node-sass.

[glen-84]

My apologies.

[saper]

No problem! I hope you got it working anyway.

[FossPrime]

Well since this was a royal pain and this is the first Google result... Here goes nothing.

If you keep getting errors on Ubuntu about python3 and python2.7 is installed and passing --python /usr/bin/python2.7 results in an arcane error when trying to install node-sass. The best way to fix it is to ignore its suggestion and just make python2.7 available as python2 in the path with something like ln -s /usr/bin/python2.7 python2

familiar python3 error

gyp ERR! stack Error: Python executable "/usr/bin/python" is v3.5.2, which is not supported by gyp.
gyp ERR! stack You can pass the --python switch to point to Python >= v2.5.0 & < 3.0.0.

less familiar error with the suggested --python "fix"

gyp ERR! stack Error: Python executable "/bin/true" is v, which is not supported by gyp.
gyp ERR! stack You can pass the --python switch to point to Python >= v2.5.0 & < 3.0.0.

"node-sass": "4.5.3"

[xzyfer]

Native Node JS extensions like node-sass are compiled via npm which uses node-gyp. Python is required by node-gyp. We supply a bunch of precompiled binaries with out releases so you don't have to compile them yourself.

During the npm install process a binary is downloaded for your system. If you're on a system we haven't pre-compiled binaries for then npm will try to compile it for you, which is where python comes in.

Since you're one linux there should be a binary for you. This likely means you're running very old version of node-sass. You should always update to the latest version of a package. Please open a new issue if you continue to encounter errors with [email protected].

[phawxby]

I'm getting the same error on Windows 10 x64. That should probably be one of the precompiled binaries considering how common it is.

[FossPrime]

@phawxby @xzyfer I believe I was using npm rebuild node-sass --force since I was mounting a my repo from a mac to an ubuntu docker, the binaries would not work. Perhaps if I had just npm cache clean and npm install I would have gotten a prebuilt binary.

[xzyfer]

Using the --force flag will compile the binary locally which is why you need python. Rebuild without force should fetch the appropriate binary if it's not already present locally.

[xzyfer]

@phawxby your issue is unrelated. You're likely using an old version of node-sass with node 8. Update to 4.5.3.

[phawxby]

You are correct. For some reason I was stuck on 4.5.2