[BUG] npm link error EPERM

[eight04]

Current Behavior:

C:\Users\eight04\dev\wakfu-autobuild>npm link
npm ERR! code EPERM
npm ERR! syscall symlink
npm ERR! path ..\..\..\..\dev\wakfu-autobuild
npm ERR! dest C:\Users\eight04\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\wakfu-autobuild
npm ERR! errno -4048
npm ERR! Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, symlink '..\..\..\..\dev\wakfu-autobuild' -> 'C:\Users\eight04\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\wakfu-autobuild'
npm ERR!  [Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, symlink '..\..\..\..\dev\wakfu-autobuild' -> 'C:\Users\eight04\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\wakfu-autobuild'] {
npm ERR!   errno: -4048,
npm ERR!   code: 'EPERM',
npm ERR!   syscall: 'symlink',
npm ERR!   path: '..\\..\\..\\..\\dev\\wakfu-autobuild',
npm ERR!   dest: 'C:\\Users\\eight04\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\wakfu-autobuild'
npm ERR! }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It's possible that the file was already in use (by a text editor or antivirus),
npm ERR! or that you lack permissions to access it.
npm ERR!
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\eight04\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2020-10-29T09_57_33_549Z-debug.log

Expected Behavior:

Shouldn't the path be . instead of ..\..\..\..\dev\wakfu-autobuild? Or at least it should be ..\..\dev\wakfu-autobuild.

Steps To Reproduce:

• Run npm link in a package.

I have this issue on multiple packages so I guess it's not a package issue. You can find them here:
https://github.com/eight04/sync-version
https://github.com/eight04/wakfu-autobuild

Environment:

• OS: Windows 10
• Node: 15.0.1
• npm: 7.0.3

[nlf]

the logged message is admittedly a little confusing..

what it's trying to do is create a symlink at C:\Users\eight04\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\wakfu-autobuild that points to ..\..\..\..\dev\wakfu-autobuild, which relative to the first path would be C:\Users\eight04\dev\wakfu-autobuild which given the directory noted in your prompt at the top of the above snippet appears to be correct.

can you confirm you're able to write files to the C:\Users\eight04\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules directory as your user?

[eight04]

can you confirm you're able to write files to the C:\Users\eight04\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules directory as your user?

Yes:

C:\Users\eight04\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules>echo foo > foo.txt

C:\Users\eight04\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules>type foo.txt
foo

---

According to Google, it seems that only admins can create symbolic links on Windows:
nodejs/node-v0.x-archive#6342 (comment)

With further testing, I found that this throws:

import {symlink} from "fs/promises";
await symlink(
  '..\\..\\..\\..\\dev\\wakfu-autobuild',
  'C:\\Users\\eight04\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\wakfu-autobuild',
  'dir'
);

This works:

import {symlink} from "fs/promises";
await symlink(
  '..\\..\\..\\..\\dev\\wakfu-autobuild',
  'C:\\Users\\eight04\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\wakfu-autobuild',
  'junction'
);

(Both works if I open cmd as admin)

However, I haven't seen this error until npm@7. Was something changed in the new version?

[CAM-Gerlach]

Possibly related to #1923 , which I can repro running npm install on a package with a dependency specified as a path in Node 15.0.1, npm 7.0.3 (latest current) but not Node 14.15.0 , npm 6.14.8 (latest LTS) per pre-commit/pre-commit#1681

[ljharb]

@CAM-Gerlach what about npm v7.0.7?