How to use a different version of python during NPM install?

Question

I have terminal access to a VPS running centos 5.9 and default python 2.4.3 installed. I also installed python 2.7.3 via these commands: (I used make altinstall instead of make install )

wget http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.3/Python-2.7.3.tgz
tar -xf Python-2.7.3.tgz
cd Python-2.7.3
./configure
make
make altinstall

then I installed node.js from source via these commands:

python2.7 ./configure
make
make install

The problem is, when I use npm install and try to install a node.js package which requires python > 2.4.3 I get this error:

gyp ERR! configure error
gyp ERR! stack Error: Python executable "python" is v2.4.3, which is not supported by gyp.
gyp ERR! stack You can pass the --python switch to point to Python >= v2.5.0 & < 3.0.0.
gyp ERR! stack     at failPythonVersion (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/configure.js:125:14)
gyp ERR! stack     at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/configure.js:114:9

how should I "pass the --python switch to point to Python >= v2.5.0" ?

Answer 1

You can use --python option to npm like so:

npm install --python=python2.7

or set it to be used always:

npm config set python python2.7

Npm will in turn pass this option to node-gyp when needed.

(note: I'm the one who opened an issue on Github to have this included in the docs, as there were so many questions about it ;-) )

Answer 2

set python to python2.7 before running npm install

Linux:

export PYTHON=python2.7

Windows:

set PYTHON=python2.7

Answer 3

对于 Windows 用户，这样的事情应该可以工作：

PS C:\angular> npm install --python=C:\Python27\python.exe

Answer 4

Ok, so you've found a solution already. Just wanted to share what has been useful to me so many times;

I have created setpy2 alias which helps me switch python.

alias setpy2="mkdir -p /tmp/bin; ln -s `which python2.7` /tmp/bin/python; export PATH=/tmp/bin:$PATH"

Execute setpy2 before you run npm install . The switch stays in effect until you quit the terminal, afterwards python is set back to system default.

You can make use of this technique for any other command/tool as well.

Answer 5

This one works better if you don't have the python on path or want to specify the directory :

//for Windows
npm config set python C:\Python27\python.exe

//for Linux
npm config set python /usr/bin/python27

Answer 6

快速使用一次， npm install --python="c:\\python27"