[BUG] npx appears to be broken in latest release

[robross0606]

Since the latest GA release, most attempts to use npm in Windows are broken. cross-env and npx both no longer work properly and cannot find any of the commands. Both previously worked for cross-platform execution of things like husky and jest. This means our commit hooks are also now broken in Windows.

Current Behavior:

Since the GA release of npx 7.5.2, we cannot execute commands on Windows CLI. npm scripts that previously worked like npx and cross-env no longer function. Commit hooks like husky-run are non-functional.

Where previously working, we now get messages like:

> npx jest --coverage

'jest' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path C:\Code\nl\node-graphql-utils
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /d /s /c jest --coverage

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2021-02-02T23_50_01_621Z-debug.log
npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path C:\Code\nl\node-graphql-utils
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /d /s /c npx jest --coverage

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2021-02-02T23_50_01_653Z-debug.log

and

> git -c user.useConfigOnly=true commit --quiet --allow-empty-message --amend --no-edit
'husky-run' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path C:\Code\nl\node-graphql-utils
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /d /s /c husky-run pre-commit

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2021-02-03T03_35_51_503Z-debug.log

Expected Behavior:

Core features should work as with v6 unless documented as a breaking change. Documentation also says npx it should prompt to install a package if it doesn't exist.

Steps To Reproduce:

• npm install -g npm@latest
• npm install jest --save-dev in project
• npm install husky --save-dev in project
• Confirm both are installed with npm ls jest and npm ls husky
• Attempt npx jest
• Attempt a git commit on Windows

Environment:

• OS: Windows 10 10.0.19042
• Node: 14.15.4
• npm: 7.5.2

[robross0606]

I've found that, for reasons unknown, this breaks selectively for directories on Windows NTFS where case-sensitivity has been enabled. If case-sensitivity is disabled on node_modules/.bin it works fine. If case sensitivity is enabled on node_modules/.bin it breaks execution of cmd.

[Eonasdan]

attempting to run rollup without installed globally no longer works. same with browser-sync

'browser-sync' is not recognized as an internal or external command

Environment: OS: Windows 10 1909 Node: 15.8 npm: 7.5.2

---

Edit: strange. I rolled npm down to 6.14.11. Did npm i in my project and I was able to run rollup and browser-sync. I then installed npm@latest (7.5.3), did npm i again and it seems to be working.

I had done npm i and deleted node_modules before to make sure this wasn't an issue before commenting.

[darcyclarke]

@robross0606 team just tried to repo with latest, are there any other steps or configuration you can provide to confirm this is still a problem?

[robross0606]

I don't know. I've abandoned npm v7 completely for now due to trove of bugs and other issues. It was simply unusable.

[leolcao]

@darcyclarke I know how to represent this issue. Basically, just like @robross0606 said, I find the same issue in my local Windows PC with the case-sensitive enabled folders.

Environment: OS: Windows 10 20H2 19042.985 Node: 14.16.0/12.16.2 npm: 6.14.11/6.14.4

Steps:

• Create a simple npm workspace

mkdir sample
cd sample
npm init -y
npm install --save-dev typescript
npx tsc -v

you will see the expected vesult: 'Version 4.2.4'

• Create another simple npm workspace

mkdir sample2
cd sample2

Now, open the git bash in administrator, and enable the case sensitive in the folder sample2:

fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo .

Then, finish the test in sample2 folder.

npm init -y
npm install --save-dev typescript
npx tsc -v

You will find the npx will not find the ./node_modules/.bin/tsc command, and show messages like below:

npx: 1 安装成功，用时 3.014 秒


                This is not the tsc command you are looking for


To get access to the TypeScript compiler, tsc, from the command line either:

- Use npm install typescript to first add TypeScript to your project before using npx
- Use yarn to avoid accidentally running code from packages which haven't been installed

This means npm/npx cannot work on the case sensitive enabled NTFS filesystem.

PS: Just ignore the Chinese chars. I come from China.

[BinToss]

Environment

OS: Windows 10 Pro 19044.1387 Node: 17.1.0 NPM: 8.1.4

---

The current workaround is to select a case-sensitive parent directory and recursively disable CaseSensitiveInfo for all directories.

$path = "";
Get-ChildItem $path -Directory -Recurse | ForEach-Object { fsutil file setCaseSensitiveInfo $_ disable }

This is not explicitly dependent on Powershell, so it can be adapted to other terminals.