node-gyp timeouts getting node-v8.12.0-headers.tar.gz from nodejs.org on installation

[a114m]

• Node Version: 8.12.0
• Platform: Docker image [node:8.12.0-alpine] Linux a5082c9f8d6e 4.4.0-1073-aws #83-Ubuntu SMP Sat Nov 17 00:26:27 UTC 2018 x86_64 Linux

Briefly: the following resource is timing out causing the build to fail:
https://nodejs.org/download/release/v8.12.0/node-v8.12.0-headers.tar.gz

Verbose output (from npm or node-gyp):

yarn install v1.9.4
[1/4] Resolving packages...
[2/4] Fetching packages...
info [email protected]: The platform "linux" is incompatible with this module.
info "[email protected]" is an optional dependency and failed compatibility check. Excluding it from installation.
[3/4] Linking dependencies...
[4/4] Building fresh packages...
error /usr/src/app/node_modules/node-rdkafka: Command failed.
Exit code: 1
Command: node-gyp rebuild
Arguments: 
Directory: /usr/src/app/node_modules/node-rdkafka
Output:
gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
gyp info using [email protected]
gyp info using [email protected] | linux | x64
gyp http GET https://nodejs.org/download/release/v8.12.0/node-v8.12.0-headers.tar.gz
gyp WARN install got an error, rolling back install
gyp ERR! configure error 
gyp ERR! stack Error: connect ETIMEDOUT 104.20.22.46:443
gyp ERR! stack     at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (net.js:1191:14)
gyp ERR! System Linux 4.4.0-1062-aws
gyp ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
gyp ERR! cwd /usr/src/app/node_modules/node-rdkafka
gyp ERR! node -v v8.12.0
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.8.0
gyp ERR! not ok
info Visit https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/install for documentation about this command.
The command '/bin/sh -c yarn --frozen-lockfile' returned a non-zero code: 1
script returned exit code 1

[richardlau]

There's a current issue with the nodejs.org website: https://github.com/nodejs/nodejs.org/issues/2289.

As a temporary workaround you can download the headers from https://unecrypted.nodejs.org/dist/v8.12.0/node-v8.12.0-headers.tar.gz and run with --tarball option/npm_config_tarball environment variable (e.g. npm_config_tarball=<path to node-v8.12.0-headers.tar.gz> yarn install).

[richardlau]

Looks like this is now resolved: https://github.com/nodejs/nodejs.org/issues/2289#issuecomment-504988905