Unable to resolve dependencies in NODE-PATH using DOCKER

[camiloperezv]

Is this a bug report?

YES

Description

Hi, I'm using docker to develop my solution.

In Docker I install the node-modules insite /opt folder and add this node_modules folder to NODE_PATH and PATH, if I go into the Docker container and run node then execute something like

> const react = require('react');

The output will be a success, this will happen in every location of the docker container, not just the /opt

To reproduce this issue I will show you step by step how I making my project.

My DockerFile is:

FROM node:8.11
# Install dependencies to run react app
RUN yarn global add [email protected] serve && mkdir /tmp/client

# define envirnment variables
ARG NODE_ENV=production
ENV NODE_ENV $NODE_ENV

# expose port to run it
ARG PORT=4000
ENV PORT $PORT
EXPOSE $PORT

# Install node modules and add them to the PATH and Node Path
WORKDIR /opt
COPY package.json yarn.lock ./
RUN yarn install --silent --production=true
ENV PATH /opt/node_modules/.bin:$PATH
ENV NODE_PATH /opt/node_modules/:$NODE_PATH

# Define variable to check if build is required
ARG ENVIRONMENT=$ENVIRONMENT

ENV NPM_CONFIG_LOGLEVEL warn

# Copy project
WORKDIR /app
COPY . /app

# Run the build if the build-arg ENVIRONMENT is production
RUN if [ $ENVIRONMENT="production" ] ; then echo BUILD $ENVIRONMENT && yarn run build ; else echo DEVELOPMENT BUILD; fi

Now if I ejecute the docker build with

$ docker build --build-arg ENVIRNMOENT=production -t my_react_project .

Actual behavior

I will get this error message

react-scripts build
Creating an optimized production build...
Failed to compile.

Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'react' in '/app/src'


error An unexpected error occurred: "Command failed.
Exit code: 1
Command: sh
Arguments: -c react-scripts build
Directory: /app
Output:
".

Now, If you go into the docker image running

$ docker run --rm -it my_react_project bash

Now you will be into something like

root@033a87fa9eae:/app#

Now you can execute node and test importing react, it will works

$ node

> const react = require('react');
undefined
> react
{ Children:
   { map: [Function: mapChildren],
     forEach: [Function: forEachChildren],
     count: [Function: countChildren],
     toArray: [Function: toArray],
     only: [Function: onlyChild] },
  Component: [Function: ReactComponent],
  PureComponent: [Function: ReactPureComponent],
.
.
.

Environment

As you can see my platform is
NODE: 8.11
yarn: 1.5.1

Reproducible Demo

You can clone this repo https://github.com/camiloperezv/login-template-react and reproduce the bug there.

I found this issue related #2230

Regards

[Timer]

Hi, we're not experts in Docker or this setup -- why are you installing react-scripts globally, that may be an issue?

This seems better suited for Stack Overflow. Good luck!

[MrHen]

I'm having the exact same issue with the same symptoms. It seems like npm test is not picking up NODE_PATH correctly even though it is set properly in the environment. I can't tell where the problem lies; it seems like it is somewhere between node, react-scripts and jest.

I can't imagine why the Docker environment would cause any problems. If I hack up the jest-resolve/build/index.js with debug output it clearly shows that NODE_PATH is not making it through:

  resolveModuleFromDirIfExists(dirname, moduleName, options) {
    const paths = (options && options.paths) || this._options.modulePaths;
    const moduleDirectory = this._options.moduleDirectories;
    const key =
      dirname + (_path || _load_path()).default.delimiter + moduleName;
    const defaultPlatform = this._options.defaultPlatform;
    const extensions = this._options.extensions.slice();
    console.log('debug', JSON.stringify({
        paths: paths,
        moduleDirectory: moduleDirectory,
        key: key,
        defaultPlatform: defaultPlatform,
        extensions: extensions,
        nodePaths: nodePaths,
        NODE_PATH: process.env.NODE_PATH,
        dirname: __dirname,
    }, null, 2));

This leads to the output:

debug {
  "moduleDirectory": [
    "node_modules"
  ],
  "key": "/opt/app/client/src:react",
  "extensions": [
    ".web.js",
    ".js",
    ".web.ts",
    ".ts",
    ".web.tsx",
    ".tsx",
    ".json",
    ".web.jsx",
    ".jsx",
    ".node"
  ],
  "nodePaths": null,
  "NODE_PATH": "",
  "dirname": "/modules/node_modules/jest-resolve/build"
}

The specific command I run doesn't seem to matter much between:

• npm test
• NODE_PATH=/modules/node_modules npm test
• NODE_PATH=/modules/node_modules react-scripts test

---

Other notes and observations:

• If I run node and then output the NODE_PATH it works as expected
• jest-resolve itself is installed in /modules/node_modules/ and is loaded correctly -- I assume by node itself
• The reason for moving the node_modules to /modules/node_modules is a detail of the Docker environment but is necessary in order to build the proper node-sass binary and keep the development environment sane
• The issue is specific to using create-react-app. This pattern worked for me before I switched to create-react-app. (I was using webpack directly before and did have to add some configuration to make it happy.)
• Trying to install jest-resolve globally did not fix the problem

---

My package versions:

root@03cc55342435:/modules/node_modules# npm ls react jest jest-resolve react-scripts
[email protected] /modules
+-- [email protected] 
`-- [email protected] 
  +-- [email protected] 
  | `-- [email protected]
  |   +-- [email protected]
  |   | `-- [email protected]  deduped
  |   +-- [email protected]
  |   | `-- [email protected]  deduped
  |   `-- [email protected]
  |     `-- [email protected]  deduped
  `-- [email protected] 

[MrHen]

Alright, I figured it out. The issue is that react-scripts is explicitly filtering out absolute paths from NODE_PATH. You have to change it to a relative path and then it works as expected. In my case, that was changing /modules/node_modules to ../../../modules/node_modules. Ironically, it then normalizes the path back to /modules/node_modules.

I'm not sure why it wants to filter out absolute paths. This is a pretty standard docker setup due to how volume mapping local development environments is so wonky.