npm ERR! Cannot read property 'pause' of undefined --Bluemix

Question

I am trying to deploy a Sails.js app to Bluemix and we are getting the following error during the deploy stage in the toolchain on Bluemix (When the CF PUSH command is called):

npm ERR! Cannot read property 'pause' of undefined

I understand the trace goes to the npm-error.log file, however, I haven't been able to get to it as we cannot ssh in to see whats in the file as the application is in its "off" state after a bad deploy.

This same code was successfully deployed with both Cf push {app name}} and through a simple build and deploy toolchain in Bluemix just 8 days ago.

In the build stage I can run Npm install and npm update just fine. However, it seems to do this again in the deploy stage regardless and it fails. Here is some detail on this failure

NODE_ENV=production
   NPM_CONFIG_LOGLEVEL=error
   NPM_CONFIG_PRODUCTION=true
   Visit http://docs.cloudfoundry.org/buildpacks/node/index.html#vendoring
   NODE_HOME=/tmp/app/.cloudfoundry/0/node
   NODE_MODULES_CACHE=true
   NODE_VERBOSE=false
Restoring cache
       Loading 3 from cacheDirectories (default):
       - .npm
       - .cache/yarn (not cached - skipping)
       - bower_components (not cached - skipping)
       Installing node modules (package.json) Building dependencies
 [email protected] preinstall /tmp/app/node_modules/sails
 node ./lib/preinstall_npmcheck.js
Sails.js Installation: Checking npm-version successful
npm ERR! Cannot read property 'pause' of undefined
npm ERR!     /tmp/app/.npm/_logs/2017-09-09T17_02_48_660Z-debug.log
       **ERROR** Unable to build dependencies: exit status 1
Failed to compile droplet
Exit status 223
Staging failed: Exited with status 223
Destroying container
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
Successfully destroyed container

Package.json file

{
  "name": "myApp",
  "private": true,
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "Stuff my app does",
  "keywords": [
    "Cool Apps"
  ],
  "dependencies": {
    "bcryptjs": "^2.4.3",
    "cacheman": "^2.2.1",
    "ejs": "2.3.4",
    "elasticsearch": "^13.0.0-rc2",
    "find-remove": "^1.0.1",
    "fs": "0.0.1-security",
    "grunt": "1.0.1",
    "grunt-contrib-clean": "1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-coffee": "1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-concat": "1.0.1",
    "grunt-contrib-copy": "1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-cssmin": "1.0.1",
    "grunt-contrib-jst": "1.0.0",
    "grunt-contrib-less": "1.3.0",
    "grunt-contrib-uglify": "1.0.1",
    "grunt-contrib-watch": "1.0.0",
    "grunt-sails-linker": "~0.10.1",
    "grunt-sync": "0.5.2",
    "include-all": "^1.0.0",
    "jsonwebtoken": "^7.3.0",
    "moment": "^2.18.1",
    "moment-timezone": "^0.5.13",
    "passport": "^0.2.x",
    "passport-http-bearer": "^1.0.1",
    "passport-idaas-openidconnect": "^1.1.0",
    "passport-local": "^1.0.0",
    "rc": "1.0.1",
    "request": "^2.81.0",
    "request-promise": "^4.2.0",
    "sails": "~0.12.13",
    "sails-disk": "~0.10.9",
    "sails-mongo": "^0.12.2",
    "stream": "0.0.2",
    "uuid-1345": "^0.99.6",
    "validator": "^7.0.0",
    "natural-sort": "^1.0.0"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node app.js"
  },
  "engines": {
    "node": "^8.0.x",
    "npm": "^5.0.x"
  },
  "main": "app.js",
  "author": "Scott N",
  "license": ""
}

Things I've tried so far. -change node versions -changed npm versions -change dependencies versions to include the ^ prefix -removed all dependencies but Sails in the package.json file

So Sails.js and the Nodebuildpack/Bluemix aren't playing well with each other.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

M.T. M.T. · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-10T09:06:20

It happens to me just the same. and I've to roll back the prev version of npm: 5.3.0 and it's working now. (BTW: macOS)

The error only happens when I update my npm version like this:

  Update available 5.3.0 → 5.4.1    
   Run npm i -g npm to update

npm ERR! Cannot read property 'pause' of undefined --Bluemix

3 Answers