Error prevents app from starting

[ungoldman]

I keep getting the same cryptic error when trying to start the app. I've tried installing by cloning the repo, installing dependencies and running npm start as specified in the readme. I tried installing grunt globally, running index.js with nodemon or just plain node, all with the same result.

∴ ~/dev/lab/temp/rendr-app-template (master) $ npm start

> [email protected] start /Users/ng/dev/lab/temp/rendr-app-template
> DEBUG=app:* node index.js


/Users/ng/dev/lab/temp/rendr-app-template/index.js:29
  if (err) throw err;
                 ^
Error: grunt exited with code:127
    at ChildProcess.compileAssets (/Users/ng/dev/lab/temp/rendr-app-template/index.js:22:13)
    at ChildProcess.EventEmitter.emit (events.js:91:17)
    at Process._handle.onexit (child_process.js:674:10)
npm ERR! [email protected] start: `DEBUG=app:* node index.js`
npm ERR! `sh "-c" "DEBUG=app:* node index.js"` failed with 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] start script.
npm ERR! This is most likely a problem with the rendr-app-template package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     DEBUG=app:* node index.js
npm ERR! You can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls rendr-app-template
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! System Darwin 11.4.2
npm ERR! command "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "start"
npm ERR! cwd /Users/ng/dev/lab/temp/rendr-app-template
npm ERR! node -v v0.8.2
npm ERR! npm -v 1.1.46
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/ng/dev/lab/temp/rendr-app-template/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

Grunt keeps exiting with an error code of 127. Not much other debug info available.

Here's my npm-debug.log:

0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [ 'node', '/usr/local/bin/npm', 'start' ]
2 info using [email protected]
3 info using [email protected]
4 verbose config file /Users/ng/.npmrc
5 verbose config file /usr/local/etc/npmrc
6 verbose config file /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc
7 verbose read json /Users/ng/dev/lab/temp/rendr-app-template/package.json
8 verbose run-script [ 'prestart', 'start', 'poststart' ]
9 info prestart [email protected]
10 info start [email protected]
11 verbose unsafe-perm in lifecycle true
12 silly exec sh "-c" "DEBUG=app:* node index.js"
13 silly sh,-c,DEBUG=app:* node index.js,/Users/ng/dev/lab/temp/rendr-app-template spawning
14 info [email protected] Failed to exec start script
15 error [email protected] start: `DEBUG=app:* node index.js`
15 error `sh "-c" "DEBUG=app:* node index.js"` failed with 1
16 error Failed at the [email protected] start script.
16 error This is most likely a problem with the rendr-app-template package,
16 error not with npm itself.
16 error Tell the author that this fails on your system:
16 error     DEBUG=app:* node index.js
16 error You can get their info via:
16 error     npm owner ls rendr-app-template
16 error There is likely additional logging output above.
17 error System Darwin 11.4.2
18 error command "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "start"
19 error cwd /Users/ng/dev/lab/temp/rendr-app-template
20 error node -v v0.8.2
21 error npm -v 1.1.46
22 error code ELIFECYCLE
23 verbose exit [ 1, true ]

Any idea what might be causing this?

[emecell]

If you've had node installed via homebrew for a while and just upgraded like I did, you may need to append /usr/local/share/npm/bin to your $PATH. brew info node tells you about this change.

[scottrblock]

/usr/local/share/npm/bin is in my $PATH (as brew info node told me to do), but I am still receiving the same error.

> [email protected] start /Users/sblock/projects/rendr-app-template
> DEBUG=app:* node index.js


/Users/sblock/projects/rendr-app-template/index.js:29
  if (err) throw err;
                 ^
Error: grunt exited with code:127
    at ChildProcess.compileAssets (/Users/sblock/projects/rendr-app-template/index.js:22:13)
    at ChildProcess.EventEmitter.emit (events.js:91:17)
    at Process._handle.onexit (child_process.js:674:10)
npm ERR! [email protected] start: `DEBUG=app:* node index.js`
npm ERR! `sh "-c" "DEBUG=app:* node index.js"` failed with 1
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] start script.
npm ERR! This is most likely a problem with the rendr-app-template package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     DEBUG=app:* node index.js
npm ERR! You can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls rendr-app-template
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! System Darwin 11.4.0
npm ERR! command "/usr/local/Cellar/node/0.8.8/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "start"
npm ERR! cwd /Users/sblock/projects/rendr-app-template
npm ERR! node -v v0.8.8
npm ERR! npm -v 1.1.59
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/sblock/projects/rendr-app-template/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

And my npm-debug.log

0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [ '/usr/local/Cellar/node/0.8.8/bin/node',
1 verbose cli   '/usr/local/bin/npm',
1 verbose cli   'start' ]
2 info using [email protected]
3 info using [email protected]
4 verbose read json /Users/sblock/projects/rendr-app-template/package.json
5 verbose run-script [ 'prestart', 'start', 'poststart' ]
6 info prestart [email protected]
7 info start [email protected]
8 verbose unsafe-perm in lifecycle true
9 silly exec sh "-c" "DEBUG=app:* node index.js"
10 silly sh,-c,DEBUG=app:* node index.js,/Users/sblock/projects/rendr-app-template spawning
11 info [email protected] Failed to exec start script
12 error [email protected] start: `DEBUG=app:* node index.js`
12 error `sh "-c" "DEBUG=app:* node index.js"` failed with 1
13 error Failed at the [email protected] start script.
13 error This is most likely a problem with the rendr-app-template package,
13 error not with npm itself.
13 error Tell the author that this fails on your system:
13 error     DEBUG=app:* node index.js
13 error You can get their info via:
13 error     npm owner ls rendr-app-template
13 error There is likely additional logging output above.
14 error System Darwin 11.4.0
15 error command "/usr/local/Cellar/node/0.8.8/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "start"
16 error cwd /Users/sblock/projects/rendr-app-template
17 error node -v v0.8.8
18 error npm -v 1.1.59
19 error code ELIFECYCLE
20 verbose exit [ 1, true ]

[zdwalter]

I found a solution:
see http://gruntjs.com/getting-started

npm uninstall -g grunt
npm install -g grunt-cli

[dylanharrington]

@zdwalter awesome, that worked for me. thanks!

[scottrblock]

@zdwalter worked for me, thanks so much!

[ungoldman]

Thanks @zdwalter! @airbnb folks, does this mean grunt-cli should be a package.json dependency, or is something else going on?

[spikebrehm]

Hmm, Grunt wants you to install it with -g, which means it should be in package.json. I'll add something to the README.

[spikebrehm]

I've added 'grunt-cli' to the package.json; is that poor practice, because it should be installed with -g? 681df30

[ungoldman]

Would probably be better to keep it out of dependencies and add a note to the README alerting users that grunt-cli needs to be installed globally.