Using elm-test in a git hub action - elm

Question

I want to use the an git hub action to test and build my elm package whenever a commit is pushed to the master branch for this my action .yml file looks like this
name: CI
on: [push]
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup Elm environment
uses: JorelAli/setup-elm#v1
with:
# Version of Elm to use. E.g. 0.19.1
elm-version: 0.19.1
- run: |
sudo npm install -g elm-test # this fails
elm-test
elm make
for testing I want to use elm-test which can be installed via npm but the command sudo npm install -g elm-test fails with
/usr/local/bin/elm-test -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/bin/elm-test
> elmi-to-json#1.3.0 install /usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/elmi-to-json
> binwrap-install
ERR Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/elmi-to-json/unpacked_bin'
at Object.mkdirSync (fs.js:823:3)
at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/binwrap/binstall.js:46:10
at new Promise (<anonymous>)
at untgz (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/binwrap/binstall.js:21:10)
at binstall (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/binwrap/binstall.js:11:12)
at install (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/binwrap/install.js:20:10)
at Object.install (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/binwrap/index.js:14:14)
at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/binwrap/bin/binwrap-install:18:9)
at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:955:30)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:991:10)
at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:811:32)
at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:723:14)
at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1043:10)
at internal/main/run_main_module.js:17:11 {
errno: -13,
syscall: 'mkdir',
code: 'EACCES',
path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/elmi-to-json/unpacked_bin'
}
npm WARN optional SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: fsevents#2.1.2 (node_modules/elm-test/node_modules/fsevents):
npm WARN notsup SKIPPING OPTIONAL DEPENDENCY: Unsupported platform for fsevents#2.1.2: wanted {"os":"darwin","arch":"any"} (current: {"os":"linux","arch":"x64"})
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! elmi-to-json#1.3.0 install: `binwrap-install`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the elmi-to-json#1.3.0 install script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! /home/runner/.npm/_logs/2020-02-03T17_50_06_232Z-debug.log
Any advice on how to install elm-test inside a git hub action?
Edit:
Without the sudo the error becomes
npm WARN checkPermissions Missing write access to /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! syscall access
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! [Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'] {
npm ERR! stack: "Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'",
npm ERR! errno: -13,
npm ERR! code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR! syscall: 'access',
npm ERR! path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user
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! /home/runner/.npm/_logs/2020-02-04T13_41_34_534Z-debug.log

Answer 1

Thanks to #toastal comment I found another solution. That is to set up a package.json file using npm and then adding elm-test as a dependency with the command
npm install -D elm-test
also you might want to add node_modules to your .gitignore to ignore npms installation folder.
Then in the yml file you can just run the command npm install and elm-test gets installed.
Then you can call it with
./node_modules/elm-test/bin/elm-test
My yml file now looks like this
name: Tests
on: [push]
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup Elm environment
uses: JorelAli/setup-elm#v1
with:
# Version of Elm to use. E.g. 0.19.1
elm-version: 0.19.1
- name: install npm dependencies
run: npm install
- name: Test
run: ./node_modules/elm-test/bin/elm-test
- name: check documentation
run: |
elm make --docs=docs.json
rm docs.json

Answer 2

Thanks to #glennsl I found a solution: specifying where npm installs package globally.
Since the runner that runs the action has no access to the /usr/local/lib npm can't install anything on a global level.
The solution (as described here) is to create a folder as a "global" installation folder and configuring npm to use it. It is also necessary to add the new folder to the PATH environment variable.
So my yml file now looks like this
name: CI
on: [push]
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup Elm environment
uses: JorelAli/setup-elm#v1
with:
# Version of Elm to use. E.g. 0.19.1
elm-version: 0.19.1
- run: |
mkdir ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH
npm install -g elm-test
elm-test
elm make