Installing as non-root user does not work (access denied)

[jblom]

Affected Puppet, Ruby, OS and module versions/distributions

• Puppet: 4.8.0
• Ruby: 2.1.9p490
• Distribution: within Docker Centos 7 image
• Module version: latest

How to reproduce (e.g Puppet code you use)

nodejs::npm { "install ${service_name} npm packages as user ${service_user}":
		ensure => 'present',
		user => $service_user,
		source => "/home/${service_user}/${service_name}/src/static/package.json",
		target => "/home/${service_user}/${service_name}/src/static",
		require => Class['nodejs'],
	}

What are you seeing

The process is trying to access /root/.npm while it is running as a different user:

e.g. part of the log: npm ERR! { Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/root/.npm'

What behaviour did you expect instead

I expected that the process was not trying to use anything inside the root dir. When I run npm install in the source directory as that $service_user it works.

Output log

Notice: /Stage[main]/Rd_infra_service::Implementation::Media_suite/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Service[wp5_mediasuite]/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Webclient[wp5_mediasuite]/Nodejs::Npm[install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/Exec[npm_install_install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/returns: npm ERR! addLocal Could not install /home/clariah/wp5_mediasuite/src/static/package.json
Notice: /Stage[main]/Rd_infra_service::Implementation::Media_suite/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Service[wp5_mediasuite]/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Webclient[wp5_mediasuite]/Nodejs::Npm[install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/Exec[npm_install_install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/returns: npm ERR! Linux 4.9.36-moby
Notice: /Stage[main]/Rd_infra_service::Implementation::Media_suite/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Service[wp5_mediasuite]/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Webclient[wp5_mediasuite]/Nodejs::Npm[install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/Exec[npm_install_install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/returns: npm ERR! argv "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "install" "/home/clariah/wp5_mediasuite/src/static/package.json"
Notice: /Stage[main]/Rd_infra_service::Implementation::Media_suite/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Service[wp5_mediasuite]/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Webclient[wp5_mediasuite]/Nodejs::Npm[install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/Exec[npm_install_install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/returns: npm ERR! node v6.10.3
Notice: /Stage[main]/Rd_infra_service::Implementation::Media_suite/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Service[wp5_mediasuite]/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Webclient[wp5_mediasuite]/Nodejs::Npm[install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/Exec[npm_install_install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/returns: npm ERR! npm  v3.10.10
Notice: /Stage[main]/Rd_infra_service::Implementation::Media_suite/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Service[wp5_mediasuite]/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Webclient[wp5_mediasuite]/Nodejs::Npm[install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/Exec[npm_install_install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/returns: npm ERR! path /root/.npm
Notice: /Stage[main]/Rd_infra_service::Implementation::Media_suite/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Service[wp5_mediasuite]/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Webclient[wp5_mediasuite]/Nodejs::Npm[install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/Exec[npm_install_install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/returns: npm ERR! code EACCES
Notice: /Stage[main]/Rd_infra_service::Implementation::Media_suite/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Service[wp5_mediasuite]/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Webclient[wp5_mediasuite]/Nodejs::Npm[install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/Exec[npm_install_install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/returns: npm ERR! errno -13
Notice: /Stage[main]/Rd_infra_service::Implementation::Media_suite/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Service[wp5_mediasuite]/Rd_infra_service::Resource::Webclient[wp5_mediasuite]/Nodejs::Npm[install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/Exec[npm_install_install wp5_mediasuite npm packages as user clariah]/returns: npm ERR! syscall mkdir

[jblom]

erratum: I actually use /home/${service_user}/${service_name}/src/static/ for the source parameter. The one I posted with /home/${service_user}/${service_name}/src/static/package.json was a desperate attempt to make it work.

Also: when I run as root (leaving out the user param) it does work, but then I have to chown the entire node_modules dir with the $service_user, which takes quite long and should be unnecessary.

[juniorsysadmin]

@jblom Is this still an issue with the latest version of this module/Puppet/Ruby?

[jblom]

Hi, thanks for replying let me check this later today.

[jblom]

after upgrading the module to 3.1.0, the problem still persists. Later I can try upgrading Puppet/Ruby

[jblom]

btw: I have Puppet 4.10.4 on RHEL 7.3 (Maipo)

(this is the production server. So it does not work in the Centos container as well as on a VM with RHEL 7.3)

Any idea what could be wrong?

[fnoop]

+1
This is because the npm manifest has a 'home_dir' parameter that is set to '/root' by default. This is then used to set
environment => "HOME=${home_dir}",
Not sure why this is set, if you comment it out, it uses ~/.npm by default. It could possibly only be set if specified?
Otherwise you can set home_dir in your nodejs::npm resource to override.

[jblom]

@fnoop wow super thanks! This works now (the user in combination with the home_dir param):

#This finally works (installing to the service user instead of root)

    nodejs::npm { "install ${service_name} npm packages as user ${service_user}":
      ensure => 'present',
      user => $service_user,
      source => "/home/${service_user}/${service_name}/src/static",
      target => "/home/${service_user}/${service_name}/src/static",
      use_package_json => true,
      home_dir => '~/.npm',
      subscribe => File["/home/${service_user}/${service_name}/src/static/package.json"],
    }

[fnoop]

Great! Be careful using ~ in home_dir, you might find that you've actually got ~/~/.npm now.

[jblom]

@fnoop thanks again, you're right. I've changed it to:

home_dir => "/home/${service_user}/.npm",

which avoids that possibility. Now I can actually find the .npm dir in /home/${service_user}

[juniorsysadmin]

@fnoop @jblom Should there be code changes to make behaviour more flexible/intuitive? Would additional docs help?

[jblom]

@juniorsysadmin at the very least the docs should include that: if you use:

user => 'yourownuser' you need to include home_dir => /home/yourownuser/.npm

Code wise you could hardwire that if the user param is used for a non-root user, by default the home_dir is set properly.

What do you guys think?

[ghoneycutt]

@jblom Could you submit a pull request for the README update? That will certainly help others in the future avoid having to figure this out again.

[jblom]

@ghoneycutt sure I'll try to do this later today

[juniorsysadmin]

@jblom Bump

[bschaefer99]

I'm trying to manage node-sass with this module, and a home_dir parameter would make this a little smoother. This particular package just CANT be installed as root, at least in ubuntu. The permissions break down.

[yakatz]

Looks like this readme never did get updated and people are still having this issue.