node-gyp rebuild not working on MacOS Catalina Beta without reinstalling CommandLineTools

[nnmrts]

• Node Version: v8.16.1 & v12.7.0
• Platform: Darwin macbook 19.0.0 Darwin Kernel Version 19.0.0: Tue Jul 23 01:19:36 PDT 2019; root:xnu-6153.0.103.151.1~4/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64
• Compiler: Apple clang version 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.5)
  Target: x86_64-apple-darwin19.0.0
  Thread model: posix
  InstalledDir: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin
• Module: any module...

Verbose output (from npm or node-gyp):

No receipt for 'com.apple.pkg.CLTools_Executables' found at '/'.

No receipt for 'com.apple.pkg.DeveloperToolsCLILeo' found at '/'.

No receipt for 'com.apple.pkg.DeveloperToolsCLI' found at '/'.

gyp: No Xcode or CLT version detected!

Yes, I know, it's obvious that there are some bugs on a beta OS, but I just wanted to share the solution because I couldn't find anything by googling.

To run node-gyp, you need to do this: xcode-select --install first, but if you already installed the command line tools in the past, this command will just output:

xcode-select: error: command line tools are already installed, use "Software Update" to install updates

Using "Software Update" as suggested, won't fix this problem. You have to uninstall the command line tools first by deleting this folder:
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
reference

After doing that, you need to run xcode-select --install again and everything should work now.

However, even though node-gyp now finds your command line tools, it will still fail if you use a node version higher than v8.16.1, so consider downgrading to that momentarily (by using nvm for example...).

[cclauss]

See #1779

[nnmrts]

@cclauss Thanks, but that issue isn't really related to mine, regarding the xcode command line tools stuff.

[cclauss]

Second paragraph of https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp/issues/1779#issuecomment-504267747

I also don't think we're going to be in a position to provide any support for Catalina until it's actually released, we hardly have the people + bandwidth to deal with supported operating systems. Sorry.

[nnmrts]

@cclauss Oh, sorry, thanks. Alright, good to know the status about that, but as I said, just wanted to share the current "workaround" in my issue until Catalina is released.

[NickNaso]

I want report that re-installing the command line tools worked for me. Thanks.

[cclauss]

Related to #1854... I am narrowing in on it.

[cclauss]

I believe that #1890 fixed this. Please reverify.

[nnmrts]

@cclauss Should fix it, but I'm not sure how people that used the workaround described here would be able to reverify this, because you basically have to downgrade your command line tools, or better said "anti-upgrade" them. I think this workaround is a one-way thing, or at least a very hard to revert change.

Also, the group of users who ran and and will run into this issue is probably pretty small. My suggestion is to leave this issue open until Catalina is finally released, then close it.

EDIT:
To avoid misunderstandings, I'm not saying that there are "not enough" users of neither the MacOS Beta, nor Python 3, nor node-gyp version 5.0.0 to 5.0.3. But I think being a user of all three things in this specific timeframe is pretty rare.

[nnmrts]

Catalina is here, yay!

[MInesGomes]

I solve with sudo npm install --unsafe-perm flag ... where ... could be any module

[monkuver]

how I managed to solve the problem:
1) install xcode-select (sudo xcode-select --install)
2) execute xcode-select -print-path, it will display something like /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
3) execute sudo xcode-select --reset it should change the path to /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
4) rejoice that everything worked :)

[VanijaDev]

Solution worked for me too. Thank you! :)

[elcheco]

As @NickNaso is writing reinstalling worked for me as the only option - whatever sudo xcode-select --reset solutions didn't.

So based on: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/technotes/tn2339/_index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS40014588-CH1-HOW_CAN_I_UNINSTALL_THE_COMMAND_LINE_TOOLS_

1. I run sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
2. and then xcode-select --install

after that problem was gone and I could compile everything that has been dying on node-gyp relation...

[cclauss]

Thanks @elcheco your positive review on #1940 will help to get that landed.

[icopp]

I was repeatedly running into problems here on Catalina until, after wiping out the the tools installed by xcode-select --install and then reinstalling them, I also deleted the node_modules folder in the package I was trying to set up and ran npm install from scratch. After I did that second step, it worked.

[cclauss]

https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp/blob/master/macOS_Catalina.md was not sufficient?

[icopp]

Correct. I was still getting weird make build errors until I wiped and reinstalled node_modules.

[sjohnr]

After upgrading to Catalina, downgrading to node v8.16.1 solved my problem. Thanks!

[weihanmatt]

it's worked!! Thanks!

[chrisjangl]

After upgrading to Catalina, downgrading to node v8.16.1 solved my problem. Thanks!

On a fresh installation of Catalina, downgrading to Node v8.16.1 is what FINALLY solved my issue.

[peimn]

After trying anything, reinstalling worked for me...

[Fingel]

Why does it seem like I have to revisit this issue every few months? Is there no consistent way to have this just work?

[cclauss]

https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp/blob/master/macOS_Catalina.md

[Fingel]

https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp/blob/master/macOS_Catalina.md

Yes, I've followed those instructions several times.

It seems like every few months node-gyp stops working and the only way to fix it is to remove the Xcode tools, reinstall them, rm -rf node_modules and npm install them again.

OS X problems...

[Carniatto]

https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp/blob/master/macOS_Catalina.md was not sufficient?

I've followed this and even though the acid tests pass I cannot run node-gyp rebuild

[flowtrader2016]

downgrading to Node v8.16.1 is what FINALLY solved

Worked for me.

[Fingel]

Just had to do the remove/reinstall dance again. It definitely correlates with OS X OS updates.

[nnmrts]

I suggest reopening this issue tho. It's not resolved and I kinda feel like, yeah, OSX is weird and stuff, but this is still an issue with node-gyp itself. I use several other tools and programs depending on the command line tools that don't require me to delete and reinstall them almsot every time I use aforesaid tools and programs.

Maybe it correlates with OSX updates, I personally think it correlates more with node.js updates or switches (nvm). Either way, reinstalling command line tools every time is not a solution, it's a workaround.

I hope this gets fixed.

[cclauss]

Please review #2141 which is an effort to fix this often reported issue.