yarnpkg/yarn

Missing global dependency generates unhelpful message

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#5134 opened on Dec 28, 2017

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Description

Do you want to request a feature or report a bug? Bug - Unhelpful error message

What is the current behavior?

Commands like yarn global list are failing on my system with the message error "C:\\code\\antlr4ts\\tool" doesn't exist. This is of my own doing (I recognize the missing directory, and had intentionally deleted it) but it wasn't clear how to recover. More context on what yarn was doing would have helped.

I tracked it down to the file C:\Users\Burt_\AppData\Local\Yarn\config\global\package.json, which contained:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "antlr4ts-cli": "file:\\code\\antlr4ts\\tool",
    "gulp-cli": "^2.0.0",
    "lerna": "^2.5.1",
    "rimraf": "^2.6.2",
    "typescript": "^2.6.2"
  }
}

Workaround

Once I knew what package was involved, yarn global remove antlr4ts-cli fixed it up.

Stack Trace

verbose 0.669 Error: "C:\\code\\antlr4ts\\tool" doesn't exist.
    at MessageError (C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\lib\cli.js:139:5)
    at C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\lib\cli.js:48701:15
    at next (native)
    at step (C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\lib\cli.js:92:30)
    at C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\lib\cli.js:103:13

If the current behavior is a bug, please provide the steps to reproduce. Sorry, I wish I could answer better how I got this entry. As a guess, I must have used something like:

yarn global add file:c:\\code\antlr4ts\tool

What is the expected behavior? Best would be to recover automatically from this using behavior like yarn global remove

Please mention your node.js, yarn and operating system version. os: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.16299.125] node: v6.12.2 yarn: 1.3.2 (installed w/ .msi)

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascriptnodejs
Domain
clideveloper experience
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
under 1 hour
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Node.jsyarn CLIunderstanding of global packages
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
70
Research direction
Examine the error handling in the Yarn CLI code, specifically the file where the error 'doesn't exist' is thrown (referenced in stack trace as 'cli.js' around line 48701). The fix should enhance the error message to indicate which global dependency caused the failure and suggest running 'yarn global remove <package>' to recover.