Termux-app: Android 6: Nodejs npm, syscall utime, Operation not permitted

[steffomix]

Is it possible to create a dummy function for utime as workaround?

Hardware: Samsung Tab A SM-T550
Reproduce:

• Create external dir and cd to storage/emulated/0/Downloads/node
• run npm init // works as expected
• run npm i express // throw error

2984 verbose fstream_path /storage/emulated/0/Download/node/node_modules/.staging/escape-html-fc4e8216/package.json
2985 verbose fstream_type File
2986 verbose fstream_class FileWriter
2987 verbose fstream_finish_call utimes
2988 verbose stack Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, utime '/storage/emulated/0/Download/node/node_modules/.staging/escape-html-fc4e8216/package.json'
2988 verbose stack at Error (native)
2989 verbose fstream_stack /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/fstream/lib/writer.js:306:21
2989 verbose fstream_stack FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:123:15)
2990 verbose cwd /storage/emulated/0/Download/node
2991 error Linux 3.10.49-9331721
2992 error argv "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/node" "/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/npm" "i" "express"
2993 error node v6.9.3
2994 error npm v4.1.1
2995 error path /storage/emulated/0/Download/node/node_modules/.staging/escape-html-fc4e8216/package.json
2996 error code EPERM
2997 error errno -1
2998 error syscall utime
2999 error Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, utime '/storage/emulated/0/Download/node/node_modules/.staging/escape-html-fc4e8216/package.json'
2999 error at Error (native)
2999 error { Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, utime '/storage/emulated/0/Download/node/node_modules/.staging/escape-html-fc4e8216/package.json'
2999 error at Error (native)
2999 error errno: -1,
2999 error code: 'EPERM',
2999 error syscall: 'utime',
2999 error path: '/storage/emulated/0/Download/node/node_modules/.staging/escape-html-fc4e8216/package.json',
2999 error fstream_finish_call: 'utimes',
2999 error fstream_type: 'File',
2999 error fstream_path: '/storage/emulated/0/Download/node/node_modules/.staging/escape-html-fc4e8216/package.json',
2999 error fstream_class: 'FileWriter',
2999 error fstream_stack:
2999 error [ '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/fstream/lib/writer.js:306:21',
2999 error 'FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:123:15)' ],
2999 error parent: 'node' }
3000 error Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

Node env

console.log (process.env)
{ LD_LIBRARY_PATH: '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib',
LANG: 'en_US.UTF-8',
OLDPWD: '/data/data/com.termux/files/home/storage/downloads',
PREFIX: '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr',
PWD: '/data/data/com.termux/files/home/storage/downloads/node',
LINES: '38',
HOME: '/data/data/com.termux/files/home',
COLUMNS: '76',
TERM: 'xterm-256color',
SHLVL: '1',
ANDROID_ROOT: '/system',
ANDROID_DATA: '/data',
EXTERNAL_STORAGE: '/sdcard',
PATH: '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin:/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/applets',
PS1: '$ ',
_: '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/node',
TMPDIR: '/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/tmp' }

[steffomix]

Could fix it.

Disable utimes by editing _/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/fstream/lib/writer.js_
at line 214:

function endUtimes (self, want, current, path, cb) {
  if (!fs.utimes || process.platform === 'win32') return cb()

to

function endUtimes (self, want, current, path, cb) {
  return cb(); // <-- insert this line
  if (!fs.utimes || process.platform === 'win32') return cb()

Now run npm with --no-bin-links because this will cause the next error:
npm install --no-bin-links express whatEver...

[rogidi]

Is this solution possible for non rooted devices?
Any update on this error?
It seems that npm cannot write to the target directory, but we cannot use chmod in termux.

[fornwall]

Just to check: This problem is only when trying to use storage/, and not the internal storage where $HOME is by default?

[rogidi]

That's true. Its impossible to install packages in the sd-card/external storage, but I found a workaround.
I just installed the module as global in the internal storage and used it in my project as /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/node_modules/...

[miracle0403]

I cant find fstream @steffomix and in my node_modules folder, i saw express but it if i write var express = require ('express') it will return "cannot find module express" and i couldnt install it in my package.json file