[BUG] Cannot read properties of null (reading 'resolve')

[c3danielxu]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• [X] I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• [X] I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

I upgraded my environment to use Node 18.8.0 (from 16.17.0) and I can no longer install a tgz file using npm install:

The error:

Command failed: npm install --no-save mypackage.tgz npm ERR! Cannot read properties of null (reading 'resolve')

Viewing my npm logs provides the following:

1069 verbose stack TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'resolve')
1069 verbose stack     at [pruneBundledMetadeps] (/Users/danielxu/.nvm/versions/node/v18.8.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:863:38)
1069 verbose stack     at [loadBundlesAndUpdateTrees] (/Users/danielxu/.nvm/versions/node/v18.8.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:745:36)
1069 verbose stack     at [loadBundlesAndUpdateTrees] (/Users/danielxu/.nvm/versions/node/v18.8.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:760:46)

Near line 863 on reify.js, this is the relevant code snippet:

    // create the list of nodes shadowed by children of bundlers
    for (const bundles of bundlesByDepth.values()) {
      // skip the 'maxBundleDepth' item
      if (!Array.isArray(bundles)) {
        continue
      }
      for (const node of bundles) {
        for (const name of node.children.keys()) {
          const shadow = node.parent.resolve(name) ///////////////////// this line here
          if (!shadow) {
            continue
          }
          bundleShadowed.add(shadow)
          shadow.extraneous = true
        }
      }
    }

There is a missing null check for when node.parent == null and reading the docs also indicates that node.parent can be null when the node is the top of the tree, e.g. it has no parent. I was able to log the exact node object but it had no parent field:

1060 warn THE NODE IS ArboristNode {
1060 warn THE NODE IS   name: 'npm',
1060 warn THE NODE IS   version: '5.1.0',
1060 warn THE NODE IS   location: '',
1060 warn THE NODE IS   path: '/Users/danielxu/.vscode/extensions/myextension/extension/node_modules/npx/node_modules/npm',
1060 warn THE NODE IS   isProjectRoot: true,
1060 warn THE NODE IS   bundleDependencies: [
1060 warn THE NODE IS     'abbrev',
1060 warn THE NODE IS     'ansi-regex',
1060 warn THE NODE IS     'ansicolors',
1060 warn THE NODE IS     'ansistyles',
... etc (there's 1000 more lines of this object, but with no parent field)

I was able to successfully install my package by modifying reify.js to have a null check:

    // create the list of nodes shadowed by children of bundlers
    for (const bundles of bundlesByDepth.values()) {
      // skip the 'maxBundleDepth' item
      if (!Array.isArray(bundles)) {
        continue
      }
      for (const node of bundles) {
        if (node.parent === null) continue /////////// this line here
        for (const name of node.children.keys()) {
          const shadow = node.parent.resolve(name)
          if (!shadow) {
            continue
          }
          bundleShadowed.add(shadow)
          shadow.extraneous = true
        }
      }
    }

An additional note: When I reverted back to Node 16.17.0 and code traced this file, the function "_pruneBundledMetadeps" is not even called and so never runs into this issue.

Expected Behavior

The tgz package should install normally, just like how it currently does with Node 16.17.0. The code in /Users/danielxu/.nvm/versions/node/v18.8.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js should have a null check for when node.parent is null.

Steps To Reproduce

npm install --no-save mypackage.tgz

Environment

• npm: 8.18.0
• Node.js: 18.8.0
• OS Name: macOS Monterey
• System Model Name: Macbook Pro

[lifeart]

Have same issue, fixed as described in report:

node v20.11.0 npm 8.19.2 @npmcli/arborist 5.6.2