npm install -g #angular/cli failing with syntax error - npm

Question

I have a jenkins job that runs on a centos 7 container.
Once the container is up the jenkins job runs a script that
executes
npm install -g #angular/cli
This has worked for about an year but today it started failing:
/usr/bin/ng -> /usr/lib/node_modules/#angular/cli/bin/ng
> #angular/cli#8.0.4 postinstall /usr/lib/node_modules/#angular/cli
> node ./bin/postinstall/script.js
/usr/lib/node_modules/#angular/cli/bin/postinstall/analytics-prompt.js:8
(async () => {
^
SyntaxError: Unexpected token (
at createScript (vm.js:56:10)
at Object.runInThisContext (vm.js:97:10)
at Module._compile (module.js:549:28)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:586:10)
at Module.load (module.js:494:32)
at tryModuleLoad (module.js:453:12)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:445:3)
at Module.require (module.js:504:17)
at require (internal/module.js:20:19)
at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/lib/node_modules/#angular/cli/bin/postinstall/script.js:5:1)
npm ERR! Linux 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.x86_64
npm ERR! argv "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "install" "-g" "#angular/cli"
npm ERR! node v6.16.0
npm ERR! npm v3.10.10
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! #angular/cli#8.0.4 postinstall: `node ./bin/postinstall/script.js`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the #angular/cli#8.0.4 postinstall script 'node ./bin/postinstall/script.js'.
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the #angular/cli package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR! node ./bin/postinstall/script.js
npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
npm ERR! npm bugs #angular/cli
npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
npm ERR! npm owner ls #angular/cli
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.
npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR! /app/capman-fe/npm-debug.log
My packages.json is this:
{
"name": "pman-fe",
"version": "0.0.0",
"scripts": {
"ng": "ng",
"start": "ng serve",
"build": "ng build",
"test": "ng test",
"lint": "ng lint",
"e2e": "ng e2e"
},
"private": true,
"dependencies": {
... omitted for brevity ...
},
"devDependencies": {
"#angular-devkit/build-angular": "^0.6.8",
"#angular/cli": "^6.0.8",
"#angular/compiler-cli": "^6.0.3",
"#angular/language-service": "^6.0.3",
"#types/d3": "^5.7.1",
"#types/jasmine": "~2.8.6",
"#types/jasminewd2": "~2.0.3",
"#types/node": "~8.9.4",
"codelyzer": "~4.2.1",
"jasmine-core": "~2.99.1",
"jasmine-spec-reporter": "~4.2.1",
"karma": "~1.7.1",
"karma-chrome-launcher": "~2.2.0",
"karma-coverage-istanbul-reporter": "~2.0.0",
"karma-jasmine": "~1.1.1",
"karma-jasmine-html-reporter": "^0.2.2",
"protractor": "^5.4.1",
"ts-node": "~5.0.1",
"tslint": "~5.9.1",
"typescript": "~2.7.2"
}
}

Answer 1

I was able to solve this error. The problem was that when I installed npm I simply executed: yum -y install npm. I guess the yum repo that the container I have to use doesn't have an up to date copy of the npm rpm. So I changed how I install npm. Now I do this:
yum install -y gcc-c++ make
curl -sL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | bash -
yum -y install nodejs
node -v
npm -v
npm install -g #angular/cli
as per https://tecadmin.net/install-latest-nodejs-and-npm-on-centos/

Answer 2

replace
npm install -g #angular/cli
on
npm install -g #angular/cli#~8.0.0
current 8.0.4 version #angular/cli bug with dependency
use ~8.0.0 or less (Ideal for version to match with package.json)

Answer 3

I just encountered the same error on Windows: turns out I had a super old version (v.6.11.0) of Node, so I would just try updating the local version of Node on your centos machine (or whatever environment you are on). Note this will also update your version of npm (most likely).