npm start fails after copying a generated project to a new directory #200

dceddia · 2016-07-26T02:55:39Z

Here is the failure:

$ npm start

> bug-test@0.0.1 start /Users/dceddia/Projects/pure-react/sandbox/bug-test-copy
> react-scripts start

module.js:339
    throw err;
    ^

Error: Cannot find module 'cross-spawn'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:337:15)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:287:25)
    at Module.require (module.js:366:17)
    at require (module.js:385:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/dceddia/Projects/pure-react/sandbox/bug-test-copy/node_modules/.bin/react-scripts:3:13)
    at Module._compile (module.js:425:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:432:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:311:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:457:10)

npm ERR! Darwin 14.5.0
npm ERR! argv "/usr/local/Cellar/node/5.0.0/bin/node" "/Users/dceddia/.node/bin/npm" "start"
npm ERR! node v5.0.0
npm ERR! npm  v3.3.12
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! bug-test@0.0.1 start: `react-scripts start`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Failed at the bug-test@0.0.1 start script 'react-scripts start'.
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the bug-test package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     react-scripts start
npm ERR! You can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls bug-test
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR!     /Users/dceddia/Projects/pure-react/sandbox/bug-test-copy/npm-debug.log

To reproduce:

$ create-react-app bug-test
$ cp -r bug-test bug-test-copy
$ cd bug-test-copy
$ npm start

At first I thought it might have something to do with having run npm start from within bug-test before copying it, but skipping that step didn't have any effect.

Removing node_modules and reinstalling them fixes it:

$ cd bug-test-copy
$ rm -r node_modules
$ npm install
$ npm start   # works!

Using cp -a instead of cp -r does not cause the problem:

$ create-react-app bug-test
$ cp -a bug-test bug-test-copy
$ cd bug-test-copy
$ npm start   # works!

I'm running Node 5.0.0 and npm 3.3.12.

I tried (via nvm) with Node 6.3.1 and npm 3.10.3 and got the same behavior.

The cp -a vs cp -r makes me think this might be an npm bug.

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

dceddia · 2016-07-26T03:07:34Z

Manually running the start.js script works whether I'm using the project copied with cp -a or cp -r:

$ node node_modules/react-scripts/scripts/start.js   # works!

Oddly, when comparing the 2 projects side-by-side, the node_modules directories appear to be identical:

$ create-react-app bug1
$ cp -r bug1 bug2r
$ cp -a bug1 bug2a
$ diff --brief -r bug2a/node_modules bug2r/node_modules  # no output

latentflip · 2016-07-26T10:46:53Z

I was intrigued so I dug into this real quick.

The problem is that cp -r doesn't necessarily preserve symlinks, and just copies the file contents instead.

npm run start uses the react-scripts bin file, which is at ./node_modules/.bin/react-scripts however, this should be symlinked into ./node_modules/react-scripts/bin/react-scripts.js. This symlink means that npm can find the cross-spawn module which is a subdependency of react-scripts.

However, cp -r doesn't preserve that symlink, and instead just copies the contents of the .bin file. npm now doesn't know to look within the node_modules/react-scripts/node_modules dir to find cross-spawn.

cp -a will preserve symlinks, so avoids the problem.

Looks like diff in general just resolves symlinks and compares the file contents, hence it not spotting this issue.

I'm not sure that this can really be resolved by create-react-app. Perhaps npm should be detecting non-symlinks in ./node_modules/.bin I dunno?

gaearon · 2016-07-26T11:02:06Z

I’ll close because this is not actionable for us—it’s just how npm bin works.

cpmech · 2017-02-24T07:39:19Z

Same problem here

kenkoooo · 2017-03-03T08:33:36Z

$ npm install -g npm@latest  # or, npm install -g npm@latest --prefix "C:\Program Files\nodejs"
$ rm -rf node_modules        # or, `cmd /c rmdir /s /q node_modules` on Windows
$ npm install

fahmidme · 2017-03-04T22:40:28Z

@kenkoooo Thank you so much your solution worked perfectly!

Edxael · 2017-03-26T00:22:47Z

@kenkoooo Thanks again you solution fix my app.

normeno · 2017-06-19T14:10:21Z

@kenkoooo Thank you!

allpratik · 2017-06-20T10:20:44Z

Facing the same issue! But any of above mentioned solutions didn't work for me. I'm on Ubuntu 16.04.

dceddia · 2017-06-20T14:03:13Z

If npm is failing it's worth giving yarn a try. I had a few intermittent npm failures on our CI server at one point, and switching to yarn solved them.

marcusstenbeck · 2017-06-29T19:38:05Z

@allpratik If you have a package-lock.json file, try:

$ rm package-lock.json
$ rm -rf node_modules
$ npm install

gaearon · 2017-06-29T19:56:29Z

Also if you use npm 5.x, downgrade to 4.x.

npm -v
npm i -g npm@4.x

npm 5.x has many known issues right now and is buggy.

jhaddow · 2017-07-10T20:34:18Z

I upgraded to npm 5.1.0 and it fixed the problem for me. I blew out my node_modules folder after upgrading and ran npm i again.

hajarrhechchou · 2017-07-21T13:02:27Z

Please help me :(

0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [ 'C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe',
1 verbose cli 'C:\Users\hajar\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js',
1 verbose cli 'start' ]
2 info using npm@5.3.0
3 info using node@v6.11.1
4 verbose run-script [ 'prestart', 'start', 'poststart' ]
5 info lifecycle design-angular2@1.2.0prestart: design-angular2@1.2.0
6 info lifecycle design-angular2@1.2.0start: design-angular2@1.2.0
7 verbose lifecycle design-angular2@1.2.0start: unsafe-perm in lifecycle true
8 verbose lifecycle design-angular2@1.2.0start: PATH: C:\Users\hajar\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\bin\node-gyp-bin;C:\Users\hajar\Desktop\vsc\veille\app2\node_modules.bin;C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\11.2.0\server\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD APP\bin\x86_64;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD APP\bin\x86;C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files (x86)\Brackets\command;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\TypeScript\2.4;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\Users\hajar\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\bin\node-gyp-bin;C:\Users\hajar\Desktop\vsc\veille\app2\node_modules.bin;C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\11.2.0\server\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD APP\bin\x86_64;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD APP\bin\x86;C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files (x86)\Brackets\command;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\TypeScript\2.4;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\Program Files\sts-bundle\sts-3.8.4.RELEASE;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\TypeScript\2.4;C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\3.4\bin;C:\Users\hajar\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\Users\hajar\Desktop\vsc\veille\app2\node_modules
9 verbose lifecycle design-angular2@1.2.0start: CWD: C:\Users\hajar\Desktop\vsc\veille\app2
10 silly lifecycle design-angular2@1.2.0start: Args: [ '/d /s /c', 'tsc && concurrently "tsc -w" "lite-server" ' ]
11 silly lifecycle design-angular2@1.2.0start: Returned: code: 2 signal: null
12 info lifecycle design-angular2@1.2.0start: Failed to exec start script
13 verbose stack Error: design-angular2@1.2.0 start: tsc && concurrently "tsc -w" "lite-server"
13 verbose stack Exit status 2
13 verbose stack at EventEmitter. (C:\Users\hajar\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\lib\utils\lifecycle.js:289:16)
13 verbose stack at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
13 verbose stack at EventEmitter.emit (events.js:191:7)
13 verbose stack at ChildProcess. (C:\Users\hajar\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\lib\utils\spawn.js:40:14)
13 verbose stack at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
13 verbose stack at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:191:7)
13 verbose stack at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:891:16)
13 verbose stack at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:226:5)
14 verbose pkgid design-angular2@1.2.0
15 verbose cwd C:\Users\hajar\Desktop\vsc\veille\app2
16 verbose Windows_NT 6.1.7601
17 verbose argv "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe" "C:\Users\hajar\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js" "start"
18 verbose node v6.11.1
19 verbose npm v5.3.0
20 error code ELIFECYCLE
21 error errno 2
22 error design-angular2@1.2.0 start: tsc && concurrently "tsc -w" "lite-server"
22 error Exit status 2
23 error Failed at the design-angular2@1.2.0 start script.
23 error This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
24 verbose exit [ 2, true ]

felixdivo · 2017-08-20T21:47:12Z

I faced this problem when moving from npm to yarn, and

rm -rf node_modules
yarn install

solved it

vjvirtan · 2017-10-24T16:01:54Z

If you change node_modules directory you have to change paths also inside node_modules/* package.json files. Search and replace \old_path to new one.
With Eclipse it is easy task with file search and replace.

If you want to change /src path then modify react-scripts/config/paths.js

haoxunba · 2017-11-16T15:14:34Z

thanks，it is save me

Gpia · 2018-07-17T09:39:49Z

@latentflip You are really right, thank you very much. So many people just said the solution while you told us the truth.

techy-manoj · 2018-07-19T02:05:01Z

@kenkoooo Thanks it worked for me.

youzeliang · 2018-08-23T15:27:49Z

yeah

imjuoy · 2018-10-25T00:31:05Z

Just wanted this.

CarliBotes · 2018-11-06T04:47:52Z

I just ran into this error when copying the create-react-app contents to a new directory.
All I had to do was:

Delete the entire node_modules directory
Re-run npm install
Find and replace any remaining occurrences of the old path with the new path
Run npm start

gaearon closed this as completed Jul 26, 2016

pk1u mentioned this issue Aug 22, 2017

Add Example note re: workaround for npm issue ? skoob13/react-masonry-infinite#11

Closed

denofevil mentioned this issue Jun 13, 2018

ignore intellij module files when generating an app #4605

Merged

lock bot locked and limited conversation to collaborators Jan 9, 2019

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npm start fails after copying a generated project to a new directory #200

npm start fails after copying a generated project to a new directory #200

dceddia commented Jul 26, 2016

dceddia commented Jul 26, 2016

latentflip commented Jul 26, 2016

gaearon commented Jul 26, 2016

cpmech commented Feb 24, 2017

kenkoooo commented Mar 3, 2017

fahmidme commented Mar 4, 2017

Edxael commented Mar 26, 2017

normeno commented Jun 19, 2017

allpratik commented Jun 20, 2017

dceddia commented Jun 20, 2017

marcusstenbeck commented Jun 29, 2017 •

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jhaddow commented Jul 10, 2017 •

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hajarrhechchou commented Jul 21, 2017

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vjvirtan commented Oct 24, 2017 •

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haoxunba commented Nov 16, 2017

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techy-manoj commented Jul 19, 2018

youzeliang commented Aug 23, 2018

imjuoy commented Oct 25, 2018

CarliBotes commented Nov 6, 2018

npm start fails after copying a generated project to a new directory #200

npm start fails after copying a generated project to a new directory #200

Comments

dceddia commented Jul 26, 2016

dceddia commented Jul 26, 2016

latentflip commented Jul 26, 2016

gaearon commented Jul 26, 2016

cpmech commented Feb 24, 2017

kenkoooo commented Mar 3, 2017

fahmidme commented Mar 4, 2017

Edxael commented Mar 26, 2017

normeno commented Jun 19, 2017

allpratik commented Jun 20, 2017

dceddia commented Jun 20, 2017

marcusstenbeck commented Jun 29, 2017 • edited Loading

gaearon commented Jun 29, 2017

jhaddow commented Jul 10, 2017 • edited Loading

hajarrhechchou commented Jul 21, 2017

felixdivo commented Aug 20, 2017 • edited Loading

vjvirtan commented Oct 24, 2017 • edited Loading

haoxunba commented Nov 16, 2017

Gpia commented Jul 17, 2018 • edited Loading

techy-manoj commented Jul 19, 2018

youzeliang commented Aug 23, 2018

imjuoy commented Oct 25, 2018

CarliBotes commented Nov 6, 2018

marcusstenbeck commented Jun 29, 2017 •

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jhaddow commented Jul 10, 2017 •

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felixdivo commented Aug 20, 2017 •

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vjvirtan commented Oct 24, 2017 •

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Gpia commented Jul 17, 2018 •

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