npm ERR!: code 127. gyp ERR! stack Error: Command failed - npm

Question

I'm getting the following error while doing npm install:
$ npm install
npm ERR! code 127
npm ERR! path /home/jesusjimenez/projects/project/node_modules/fibers
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command sh -c node build.js || nodejs build.js
npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
npm ERR! gyp info using node-gyp#3.8.0
npm ERR! gyp info using node#15.12.0 | linux | x64
npm ERR! gyp ERR! configure error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: Command failed: /usr/bin/python3 -c import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack File "<string>", line 1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack ^
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack SyntaxError: invalid syntax
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.exithandler (node:child_process:326:12)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:369:20)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1067:16)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack at Socket.<anonymous> (node:internal/child_process:453:11)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack at Socket.emit (node:events:369:20)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack at Pipe.<anonymous> (node:net:665:12)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! System Linux 5.8.0-48-generic
npm ERR! gyp ERR! command "/usr/bin/node" "/home/jesusjimenez/projects/project/node_modules/.bin/node-gyp" "rebuild" "--release"
npm ERR! gyp ERR! cwd /home/jesusjimenez/projects/project/node_modules/fibers
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node -v v15.12.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.8.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! not ok
npm ERR! node-gyp exited with code: 1
npm ERR! Please make sure you are using a supported platform and node version. If you
npm ERR! would like to compile fibers on this machine please make sure you have setup your
npm ERR! build environment--
npm ERR! Windows + OS X instructions here: https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp
npm ERR! Ubuntu users please run: `sudo apt-get install g++ build-essential`
npm ERR! RHEL users please run: `yum install gcc-c++` and `yum groupinstall 'Development Tools'`
npm ERR! Alpine users please run: `sudo apk add python make g++`
npm ERR! sh: 1: nodejs: not found
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! /home/jesusjimenez/.npm/_logs/2021-03-30T21_32_02_097Z-debug.log
I'm not completely sure what is breaking the install, if fibers or somehow that python SyntaxError: invalid syntax
However, trying to install fibers individually throws same error. npm i -g fibers doesn't fix, neither changing npm configure set python /path/to/python. Deleting fibers momentarily keeps throwing same Python SyntaxError: invalid syntax error, this time with another node_module.

Answer 1

This is the solution to this issue.
Explanation:
Notice this part of your NPM error log:
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.8.0
This means your code is trying to install node-gyp of the version 3.8.0
What is probably happening (this was in my case) you have a wrong NodeJS version, for node-gyp.
I searched for the right version of NodeJS for node-gyp 3.8.0, and the answer is below.
Solution:
Uninstall current NodeJS version
Install NodeJS Version 6.17.1 (if you need multiple NodeJS versions use NVM tool (Instructions For Windows/Linux/MacOS) https://www.nubo.eu/Install-Multiple-Node-Versions-On-Windows/
Run npm install in your project again

Answer 2

I got this error when I set a PATH variable incorrectly which meant npm and node couldn't be found correctly.
To diagnose this, I ran
npm --version
node --version
It said command not found, so I checked env | grep PATH which showed me that the location of npm and node weren't on PATH as they needed to be. Once I fixed that, everything worked as expected.

Answer 3

I got the same/similar issue without making any changes to version of node. I hate to be that guy, but after a day of struggling with it I decided to restart my machine. That fixed it...

Answer 4

The issue is that node-gyp tries to build with Python 2 syntax: print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3]; which throws an error probably because you have Python 3 on your computer.
This usually occurs when installing an outdated npm module which is not compatible with the current Node version on your system. Try installing Python 2 and set it to the path, or locate the offending module in package.json and then upgrade the version number to the one that is compatible with your current Node version.