"run.sh" fails to install pnpm when not running as root

[RalfJung]

Describe the bug
I am trying to update to etherpad 2.2.7 (current version is 1.9.7). Running run.sh fails with a permission error:

Jan 05 12:54:48 systemd[1]: Started etherpad-lite.service - etherpad-lite (real-time collaborative document editing).
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR! code EACCES
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR! syscall mkdir
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR! errno -13
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR!  [Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'] {
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR!   errno: -13,
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR!   syscall: 'mkdir',
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR!   path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR! }
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR!
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
Jan 05 12:54:49 run.sh[38599]: npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user

I suspect this is npm install pnpm -g failing. Apparently it tries to write to /usr. The run.sh script itself bails out when running as root, so it seems like the logic in installDeps.sh that installs pnpm doesn't seem to make a lot of sense?

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Run run.sh on a system without pnpm installed.

Expected behavior
Etherpad should start up successfully.

Server (please complete the following information):

• Etherpad version: 2.2.7
• OS: Debian 12
• Node.js version (node --version): v18.19.0
• npm version (npm --version): 9.2.0

Additional context
I will definitely not run npm as root, so I am currently unsure how I could install pnpm. Somehow it should be installed only for the user that runs etherpad.

[SamTV12345]

Hey. There is also some extra possibilities how to install pnpm https://pnpm.io/installation . You could use corepack for this.

[RalfJung]

Is there a way to use npm install without -g and just install something for the local user? Something like pip install --local or cargo install, neither of which need root permissions.

I am not a nodejs/npm user myself so it's quite hard to figure this out based on just the etherpad docs.

[SamTV12345]

it is probably sufficient if you add pnpm in your user folder. Or when Etherpad is installed locally just go to the install folder and do npm i pnpm which will install pnpm in Etherpad only.

[RalfJung]

I tried adding this to the service file

ExecStartPre=/bin/bash -c "which pnpm || npm install pnpm"

That fails with a completely inscrutable error message:

npm ERR! Tracker "idealTree" already exists
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /var/lib/nodejs/.npm/_logs/2025-02-14T07_54_16_677Z-debug-0.log

Searching for this online brings many mentions of docker/podman, and suggests to use -g, but running sudo npm is clearly a bad idea so that doesn't sound like a proper solution.

[RalfJung]

Ah, I missed the "go to the install folder"... I don't know why npm install would care about my working directory when trying to install pnpm from the package registry (i.e., not a local package) but 🤷 that does lead to a different error message at least:

537 verbose stack Error: Unsupported URL Type "workspace:": workspace:./src
537 verbose stack     at unsupportedURLType (/usr/share/nodejs/npm-package-arg/lib/npa.js:301:15)
537 verbose stack     at fromURL (/usr/share/nodejs/npm-package-arg/lib/npa.js:361:13)
537 verbose stack     at Function.resolve (/usr/share/nodejs/npm-package-arg/lib/npa.js:82:12)
537 verbose stack     at [nodeFromEdge] (/usr/share/nodejs/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js:1057:22)
537 verbose stack     at [buildDepStep] (/usr/share/nodejs/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js:928:36)
537 verbose stack     at [buildDeps] (/usr/share/nodejs/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js:775:31)
537 verbose stack     at Arborist.buildIdealTree (/usr/share/nodejs/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/build-ideal-tree.js:206:29)
537 verbose stack     at async Promise.all (index 1)
537 verbose stack     at async Arborist.reify (/usr/share/nodejs/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:156:5)
537 verbose stack     at async Install.exec (/usr/share/nodejs/npm/lib/commands/install.js:146:5)
538 verbose cwd /srv/pad.ralfj.de/etherpad-lite
539 verbose Linux 6.1.0-31-amd64
540 verbose node v18.19.0
541 verbose npm  v9.2.0
542 error code EUNSUPPORTEDPROTOCOL
543 error Unsupported URL Type "workspace:": workspace:./src
544 verbose exit 1

If I understand this correctly, the fix here is to use pnpm instead of npm, but this occurs while trying to install pnpm... classic dependency loop.^^