nvm: bashrc NVM EACCES: permission denied upon switching user

Operating system and version: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.9
Summary: I have nvm installed for ‘app’ user, and whenever I switch from my current user to app user (from any other user’s home dir) during .bashrc export, this error shows up. I added set -x to nvm.sh and found that it is failing while executing npm config --loglevel=warn get prefix

Error: EACCES: permission denied, scandir '/home/someuser'
Unhandled rejection TypeError: Cannot read property 'get' of undefined
    at errorHandler (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/error-handler.js:205:18)
    at /home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js:83:20
    at cb (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:224:22)
    at /home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:262:24
    at /home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/config/core.js:81:7
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at /home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/config/core.js:80:13
    at f (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/once/once.js:25:25)
    at /home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/config/core.js:110:20
    at tryCatcher (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/util.js:16:23)
    at Promise._settlePromiseFromHandler (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:512:31)
    at Promise._settlePromise (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:569:18)
    at Promise._settlePromise0 (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:614:10)
    at Promise._settlePromises (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:689:18)
    at Async._drainQueue (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/async.js:133:16)
    at Async._drainQueues (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/async.js:143:10)

TypeError: Cannot read property 'loaded' of undefined
    at process.<anonymous> (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/error-handler.js:40:18)
    at emitOne (events.js:116:13)
    at process.emit (events.js:211:7)
/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/error-handler.js:205
  if (npm.config.get('json')) {
                 ^

TypeError: Cannot read property 'get' of undefined
    at process.errorHandler (/home/app/.nvm/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/error-handler.js:205:18)
    at emitOne (events.js:116:13)
    at process.emit (events.js:211:7)
    at process._fatalException (bootstrap_node.js:374:26)

nvm debug output:

nvm --version: v0.33.8
$SHELL: /bin/bash
$HOME: /home/app
$NVM_DIR: '$HOME/.nvm'
$PREFIX: ''
$NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX: ''
$NVM_NODEJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
$NVM_IOJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
shell version: 'GNU bash, version 4.1.2(1)-release (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu)'
uname -a: 'Linux 2.6.32-696.18.7.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Dec 28 20:15:47 EST 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux'
OS version:
curl: /usr/bin/curl, curl 7.19.7 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.19.7 NSS/3.27.1 zlib/1.2.3 libidn/1.18 libssh2/1.4.2
wget: /usr/bin/wget, GNU Wget 1.12 built on linux-gnu.
git: /usr/bin/git, git version 1.7.1
grep: /bin/grep, grep (GNU grep) 2.20
awk: /bin/awk, GNU Awk 3.1.7
sed: /bin/sed, GNU sed version 4.2.1
cut: /bin/cut, cut (GNU coreutils) 8.4
basename: /bin/basename, basename (GNU coreutils) 8.4
rm: /bin/rm, rm (GNU coreutils) 8.4
mkdir: /bin/mkdir, mkdir (GNU coreutils) 8.4
xargs: /usr/bin/xargs, xargs (GNU findutils) 4.4.2
nvm current: none
which node: which: no node in (/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin)
which iojs: which: no iojs in (/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin)
which npm: which: no npm in (/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin)
npm config get prefix: bash: npm: command not found
npm root -g: bash: npm: command not found

nvm debug output after sourcing .bashrc again from app user’s home directory:

nvm --version: v0.33.8
$SHELL: /bin/bash
$HOME: /home/app
$NVM_DIR: '$HOME/.nvm'
$PREFIX: ''
$NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX: ''
$NVM_NODEJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
$NVM_IOJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
shell version: 'GNU bash, version 4.1.2(1)-release (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu)'
uname -a: 'Linux 2.6.32-696.18.7.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Dec 28 20:15:47 EST 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux'
OS version:
curl: /usr/bin/curl, curl 7.19.7 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.19.7 NSS/3.27.1 zlib/1.2.3 libidn/1.18 libssh2/1.4.2
wget: /usr/bin/wget, GNU Wget 1.12 built on linux-gnu.
git: /usr/bin/git, git version 1.7.1
grep: /bin/grep, grep (GNU grep) 2.20
awk: /bin/awk, GNU Awk 3.1.7
sed: /bin/sed, GNU sed version 4.2.1
cut: /bin/cut, cut (GNU coreutils) 8.4
basename: /bin/basename, basename (GNU coreutils) 8.4
rm: /bin/rm, rm (GNU coreutils) 8.4
mkdir: /bin/mkdir, mkdir (GNU coreutils) 8.4
xargs: /usr/bin/xargs, xargs (GNU findutils) 4.4.2
nvm current: v8.9.4
which node: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v8.9.4/bin/node
which iojs: which: no iojs in ($NVM_DIR/versions/node/v8.9.4/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin)
which npm: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v8.9.4/bin/npm
npm config get prefix: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v8.9.4
npm root -g: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v8.9.4/lib/node_modules

- `nvm ls` output:

->       v8.9.4
default -> 8.9.4 (-> v8.9.4)
serverless-version -> 8.9.4 (-> v8.9.4)
node -> stable (-> v8.9.4) (default)
stable -> 8.9 (-> v8.9.4) (default)
iojs -> N/A (default)
lts/* -> lts/carbon (-> v8.9.4)
lts/argon -> v4.8.7 (-> N/A)
lts/boron -> v6.12.3 (-> N/A)
lts/carbon -> v8.9.4

How did you install nvm? (e.g. install script in readme, homebrew):
What steps did you perform?
What happened?
What did you expect to happen?
Is there anything in any of your profile files (.bashrc, .bash_profile, .zshrc, etc) that modifies the PATH?

export NVM_DIR="/home/app/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"  # This loads nvm bash_completion

If you are having installation issues, or getting “N/A”, what does curl -I --compressed -v https://nodejs.org/dist/ print out?

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 6 years ago
Reactions: 1
Comments: 15 (6 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

I was struggling to find a fix for this error, but as @ljharb mentionned, you should cd ~ BEFORE the nvm scripts run. So change the .bashrc file to include a cd ~ before:

export NVM_DIR="/home/app/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"  # This loads nvm bash_completion

+12

BiscuiTech on Mar 21, 2018

Using the -l switch will prevent this, so with su -l you can also use ~ and $HOME interchangeably again.

ghost on Sep 17, 2018

@nareshku whenever nvm.sh is sourced, it looks for a .nvmrc file in the current directory, recursively upwards. This is by design.

ljharb on Feb 12, 2018

I think you’ll always want to cd $HOME (~ is often equivalent, but not always) after su-ing to a new user.

ljharb on Sep 14, 2018

I’m on an ec2 instance, with a jenkins user. Jenkins has nvm installed in it’s ~ (var/lib/jenkins). We ssh in, then sudo su jenkins and get the error as originally stated in the issue.

I think this is a subtlety of the way sudo su <user> works with .bash_profile. Adding pwd to .bash_profile confirms that the cwd hasn’t yet changed to the new $HOME:

pwd
cd ~
pwd

# load nvm
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && source "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"

results:

$ sudo su jenkins
/home/ec2-user
/var/lib/jenkins

Because of the way sudo su works, and when it changes directories to the new $HOME, simply loading nvm.sh in bash_profile isn’t going to work.

Sure, adding a cd ~ to the startup script before sourcing nvm.sh works. But that leaves me pretty uncertain about adding a cd to my .bash_profile won’t cause unexpected confusion or issues down the road. (edit: as expected, this caused a bunch of chaos, see update at the end)

The following ways of switching users all show the same results:

 sudo su jenkins
 sudo -su jenkins
 sudo -u jenkins bash
 sudo -u jenkins bash -l

Isn’t this what the NVM_DIR variable would be used for?

update:

As expected, just running cd $HOME in the middle of bash_profile wrecked a bunch of our Jenkins jobs. The jobs which broke have a (surprise!) source ~/.bash_profile at the beginning. The short term fix was:

# .bash_profile
pushd $HOME
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && source "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"
popd

robacarp on Sep 14, 2018