N: Running "n stable" removed bin, lib, share and include directories from /usr/local

[davidcornu]

I believe this has something to do with the following lines (https://github.com/visionmedia/n/blob/master/bin/n#L138-156). Am still investigating as to why exactly this happened.

Running the latest version from master on Mac OS X 10.8.2.

Notes

• Adding echo $N_PREFIX on line 143 returns /usr/local, which seems normal as line 6 is N_PREFIX=${N_PREFIX-/usr/local}.
• Tested on a fresh ubuntu 12.04 install, got the same result

[papercreatures]

This also just happened to me.

[almost]

Might be an idea to fix this and release an update guys or if you can't do that then remove n from package managers and let users know. It's pretty serious and it's been 3 days without an answer already, how many more victims are you waiting for?

[Hello71]

Where's that space this time...

[Hello71]

But seriously though, try running it with -x.

[mrThe]

Looks like this epic thread: https://github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee-Old-and-abbandoned/commit/a047be85247755cdbe0acce6f1dafc8beb84f2ac

[davidcornu]

After rebuilding my homebrew install (at work I might add), I've moved to nvm.
@mrThe that was entertaining.

[nym]

FWIW, this is on Hacker News' front page: https://github.com/visionmedia/n/issues/86

[benatkin]

I used _blame_ to find out where those lines got added, and I found that it was the next most recent issue: https://github.com/visionmedia/n/pull/85

That's one of an open source programmer's worst nightmares: a pull request that does something bad but looks benign. The simplest thing would be for @visionmedia to just revert it.

[vinodc]

@Hello71 Was looking for the space too...

[wms]

[AdamJacobMuller]

[fernyb]

[grncdr]

FWIW it's Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend so it's certainly possible TJ hasn't seen this yet.

[nym]

Really, you're blaming Canada... ?

[Ivoz]

I never knew the github issue tracker was actually a bunch of image forum threads....

[ghost]

You know it's a big issue when the majority of comments are pointless GIFs.

[tj]

hahahaha good call on thanks giving i just got home. I haven't been reviewing PRs properly for n(1) lately since I don't have much time, if they don't work as advertised, sorry haha, I'd love to have someone else maintain n(1) if anyone is up to it. limbo-merges seem to be digging a grave

[benatkin]

I'll volunteer. I'm just decent at shell but a node.js devotee.
On 8 Oct 2012 02:20, "TJ Holowaychuk" [email protected] wrote:

hahahaha good call on thanks giving i just got home. I haven't been
reviewing PRs properly for n(1) lately since I don't have much time, if
they don't work as advertised, sorry haha, I'd love to have someone else
maintain n(1) if anyone is up to it. limbo-merges seem to be digging a grave

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/visionmedia/n/issues/86#issuecomment-9215077.

[tj]

added you! to be honest I don't even use any of these tools anymore, I just install from source, which is maybe once every ~5 months anyway

[davidcornu]

@visionmedia That's all fine and dandy but if the project is not being actively maintained, something in the readme would be greatly appreciated (see this commit as an example).

[tj]

well ideally it "just works" and continues to "just work" but it's been slowly more and more messed up as I've merged half-baked patches and node changing conventions etc

[benatkin]

The thing is that @visionmedia didn't realize he stopped actively
maintaining it and unknowingly let it get out of control. Now its being
maintained by me. I promise to spend at least an hour a week on it and I'll
update the readme to say so if that changes.
On Oct 7, 2012 8:30 PM, "David Cornu" [email protected] wrote:

@visionmedia https://github.com/visionmedia That's all fine and dandy
but if the project is not being actively maintained, something in the
readme would be greatly appreciated (see this commithttps://github.com/ryanb/letter_opener/commit/5772e556e992954becc7020df56b0924a7844e70as an example).

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/visionmedia/n/issues/86#issuecomment-9215178.

[tj]

yeah it's kinda tough when you have 250+ OSS projects, inevitably some get messed up over time and I merge broken shit haha, funny thing is then I get comments like the one guy in here https://github.com/visionmedia/jade/pull/629 trying to make me merge something I haven't properly reviewed and that has low test coverage, at the end of the day every feature or bit of code is something I have to maintain

[benatkin]

Cross-posting this comment by @visionmedia from HN:

my bad, sorry about the limbo-merge guys, I'll read PRs closer and/or ignore them since I don't have time

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4625237

Yes that's a good idea to ignore things when you don't have time. Besides the potential for bugs, it makes it look like it's actively maintained when it isn't. If there had been nothing for three months, @davidcornu probably would have noticed, even without the README change.

[Anorov]

That commit definitely looks like it was intentional and malicious.

https://github.com/visionmedia/n/pull/85

@Suor seems to be responsible.

edit: Nevermind I'm wrong.

[Suor]

@Anorov not malicious, I just screwed up.

I use n with N_PREFIX=~/local, removing lib, include and other dirs is actually desirable in that setting.
I didn't realize that dirs are used for something other than node in different env.

[jayzalowitz]

[Anorov]

@Suor, sorry, it just looked odd by replacing a bunch of cp commands with a single "rm -rf". I see your point now though.

[behrangsa]

lulz!

[eXeC64]

Deja vu, bumblebee. Deja vu.

[gildean]

@visionmedia Don't worry, you still rock :D

[tj]

this pull-request kinda illustrates how terrible the unix directory structure is, anti-modularity ftw

[sergiotapia]

This thread is a disgrace. Stop posting so many image macros that contribute zilch to the developers of this project.

[hatumai]

I came for the images, stayed for the comments complaining about the images.

[andrerocker]

[tj]

hahaha yeah that looks about right

[eudisd]

These images are epic, it's like Reddit, only on github!

[nviennot]

[svartalf]

Go away, /usr/local/!

[jasonkarns]

Permalink for code reference post by @davidcornu in original post (for posterity): https://github.com/tj/n/blob/77946bb9c69c8ac365fb4d2ea9e666e417dfdc3c/bin/n#L138-156