validateString behavior change?

[xylo04]

Version

v18.14.0

Platform

Linux [redacted] 6.0.12-76060006-generic #202212290932167413972522.04~ca93ccf SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu J x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Subsystem

No response

What steps will reproduce the bug?

At k0swe/forester@82cb2c9 with npm 9.3.1 and node 18.14.0, attempt to run npm update.

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

Constant

What is the expected behavior?

npm update completes without error

What do you see instead?

...
6387 timing reifyNode:node_modules/google-gax/node_modules/@grpc/grpc-js Completed in 412ms
6388 timing reifyNode:node_modules/jose Completed in 417ms
6389 timing reifyNode:node_modules/google-gax Completed in 445ms
6390 timing reifyNode:node_modules/caniuse-lite Completed in 455ms
6391 timing reify:unpack Completed in 462ms
6392 timing command:update Completed in 34524ms
6393 verbose stack TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "from" argument must be of type string. Received undefined
6393 verbose stack     at new NodeError (node:internal/errors:399:5)
6393 verbose stack     at validateString (node:internal/validators:163:11)
6393 verbose stack     at relative (node:path:1191:5)
6393 verbose stack     at /home/chris/.nvm/versions/node/v18.14.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:1093:21
6393 verbose stack     at Array.map (<anonymous>)
6393 verbose stack     at /home/chris/.nvm/versions/node/v18.14.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:1091:66
6393 verbose stack     at Array.map (<anonymous>)
6393 verbose stack     at [rollbackMoveBackRetiredUnchanged] (/home/chris/.nvm/versions/node/v18.14.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:1091:8)
6393 verbose stack     at [reifyPackages] (/home/chris/.nvm/versions/node/v18.14.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:239:31)
6393 verbose stack     at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
6394 verbose cwd /home/chris/src/k0swe/forester
6395 verbose Linux 6.0.12-76060006-generic
6396 verbose node v18.14.0
6397 verbose npm  v9.3.1
6398 error code ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE
6399 error The "from" argument must be of type string. Received undefined
6400 verbose exit 1
6401 timing npm Completed in 34551ms
6402 verbose unfinished npm timer reify 1676390457583
6403 verbose unfinished npm timer reify:audit 1676390491621
6404 verbose unfinished npm timer auditReport:getReport 1676390491621
6405 verbose unfinished npm timer reify:unretire 1676390492102
6406 verbose code 1
6407 error A complete log of this run can be found in:
6407 error     /home/chris/.npm/_logs/2023-02-14T16_00_57_558Z-debug-0.log

Additional information

More information in k0swe/forester#1698. I'm speculating from the stack trace that node:internal/validators validateString used to accept undefined and simply return false instead of throwing an error. Or perhaps node:path relative is now calling that with undefined when it should not.

[debadree25]

The git blame on validateString still shows last change from 5 years back so probably the second hypothesis?

[bnoordhuis]

That check in path.relative() isn't new either, not by a long shot. This is with near certainty a problem with your setup, not with node.

If you have reason to believe otherwise, please elaborate, but otherwise I suggest you close this.

[xylo04]

I believe you that it's something with my setup, but it's also reproducible on a brand new github codespace, so it's not just a "works on my machine" issue. Maybe there's some interaction with my particular dependencies.

I'll try some different combinations of node and let you know the results.

[xylo04]

Aha, I think I'm experiencing npm/cli#4907. Sounds like as a workaround I can delete and regenerate package-lock.json, must be some poor interaction between deps. Thanks for your time!