Grpc-node: can't install grpc

[yanbou893]

Problem description
Installing grpc fails when attempting to install firebase. Also fails with same error when attempting to install grpc before firebase.

Reproduction steps
npm i firebase, npm i grpc

Environment
Windows 10 64-bits
13.6.0 (also attempted with 12.14.1, getting the same error)
nvm
gRPC 1.24.2
Additional context
node-pre-gyp WARN Using needle for node-pre-gyp https download
node-pre-gyp WARN Pre-built binaries not installable for [email protected] and [email protected] (node-v72 ABI, unknown) (falling back to source compile with node-gyp)
node-pre-gyp WARN Hit error unable to verify the first certificate
gyp ERR! find Python
gyp ERR! find Python Python is not set from command line or npm configuration
gyp ERR! find Python Python is not set from environment variable PYTHON
gyp ERR! find Python checking if "python" can be used
gyp ERR! find Python - "python" is not in PATH or produced an error
gyp ERR! find Python checking if "python2" can be used
gyp ERR! find Python - "python2" is not in PATH or produced an error
gyp ERR! find Python checking if "python3" can be used
gyp ERR! find Python - "python3" is not in PATH or produced an error
gyp ERR! find Python checking if the py launcher can be used to find Python 2
gyp ERR! find Python - "py.exe" is not in PATH or produced an error
gyp ERR! find Python checking if Python is C:\Python27\python.exe
gyp ERR! find Python - "C:\Python27\python.exe" could not be run
gyp ERR! find Python checking if Python is C:\Python37\python.exe
gyp ERR! find Python - "C:\Python37\python.exe" could not be run
gyp ERR! find Python
gyp ERR! find Python ******************
gyp ERR! find Python You need to install the latest version of Python.
gyp ERR! find Python Node-gyp should be able to find and use Python. If not,
gyp ERR! find Python you can try one of the following options:
gyp ERR! find Python - Use the switch --python="C:\Path\To\python.exe"
gyp ERR! find Python (accepted by both node-gyp and npm)
gyp ERR! find Python - Set the environment variable PYTHON
gyp ERR! find Python - Set the npm configuration variable python:
gyp ERR! find Python npm config set python "C:\Path\To\python.exe"
gyp ERR! find Python For more information consult the documentation at:
gyp ERR! find Python https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp#installation
gyp ERR! find Python ******************
gyp ERR! find Python
gyp ERR! configure error
gyp ERR! stack Error: Could not find any Python installation to use
gyp ERR! stack at PythonFinder.fail (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\find-python.js:307:47)
gyp ERR! stack at PythonFinder.runChecks (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\find-python.js:136:21)
gyp ERR! stack at PythonFinder. (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\find-python.js:225:16)
gyp ERR! stack at PythonFinder.execFileCallback (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\find-python.js:271:16)
gyp ERR! stack at exithandler (child_process.js:302:5)
gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.errorhandler (child_process.js:314:5)
gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:223:5)
gyp ERR! stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:270:12)
gyp ERR! stack at onErrorNT (internal/child_process.js:456:16)
gyp ERR! stack at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:81:21)
gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 10.0.18362
gyp ERR! command "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe" "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js" "configure" "--fallback-to-build" "--library=static_library" "--module=C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase\node_modules\grpc\src\node\extension_binary\node-v72-win32-x64-unknown\grpc_node.node" "--module_name=grpc_node" "--module_path=C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase\node_modules\grpc\src\node\extension_binary\node-v72-win32-x64-unknown" "--napi_version=5" "--node_abi_napi=napi" "--napi_build_version=0" "--node_napi_label=node-v72"
gyp ERR! cwd C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase\node_modules\grpc
gyp ERR! node -v v12.14.1
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v5.0.5
gyp ERR! not ok
node-pre-gyp ERR! build error
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack Error: Failed to execute 'C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js configure --fallback-to-build --library=static_library --module=C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase\node_modules\grpc\src\node\extension_binary\node-v72-win32-x64-unknown\grpc_node.node --module_name=grpc_node --module_path=C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase\node_modules\grpc\src\node\extension_binary\node-v72-win32-x64-unknown --napi_version=5 --node_abi_napi=napi --napi_build_version=0 --node_napi_label=node-v72' (1)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess. (C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase\node_modules\grpc\node_modules\node-pre-gyp\lib\utilcompile.js:83:29)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:223:5)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:1021:16)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:283:5)
node-pre-gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 10.0.18362
node-pre-gyp ERR! command "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe" "C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase\node_modules\grpc\node_modules\node-pre-gyp\bin\node-pre-gyp" "install" "--fallback-to-build" "--library=static_library"
node-pre-gyp ERR! cwd C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase\node_modules\grpc
node-pre-gyp ERR! node -v v12.14.1
node-pre-gyp ERR! node-pre-gyp -v v0.14.0
node-pre-gyp ERR! not ok
Failed to execute 'C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js configure --fallback-to-build --library=statiles\grpc\src\node\extension_binary\node-v72-win32-x64-unknown\grpc_node.node --module_name=grpc_node --module_path=C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\firebase\node_modules\grpc\src\node\extension_binary\node-v72-win32-x64-unknown --napi_version=5 --node_abi_napi=napi --napi_build_version=0 --node_napi_label=node-v72' (1)
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! [email protected] install: node-pre-gyp install --fallback-to-build --library=static_library
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] install script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! C:\Users\b18a0990\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache_logs\2020-02-04T01_23_08_692Z-debug.log

[MrEmanuel]

I have the same problem.

Node v10.17.0
npm v6.13.7

[ghoshbishakh]

Same issue with v10.0.0 and v12.15.0

[MrEmanuel]

TLDR: yarn add request before yarn add grpc fixed the problem for me.

I fixed my problem by installing the npm package request before trying to install grpc.
The method also worked for multiple colleagues.
It was a dependency problem within the grpc package when using pre-node-gyp to download dependencies (I think). It didn't find any pre-compiled files and thus downloaded and built from source (I think). That build step was what was causing problems.

running yarn add request before installing grpc fixed the problem by letting me download the pre-compiled files.

[ghoshbishakh]

npm install grpc --build-from-source

[jaequery]

is downgrading to node v10 the official solution? is anyone actually working on solving this issue? this have been going on for several months already iirrc