@pnpm/npm-conf: The "path" argument must be of type string error when env.APPDATA is undefined on Windows

[RandomByte]

This is a report of a possible regression in the @pnpm/npm-conf package. We use this package as a transitive dependency of update-notifier, via registry-auth-token.

A user of our package reported the error described below when using it in a Windows environment were the APPDATA environment variable is not set (e.g. the Visual Studio Code terminal): SAP/ui5-tooling#833

It looks like a regression to me, since exactly this behavior has been fixed in the original module in the past : kevva/npm-conf#7

I think the issue got re-introduced in your fork with this commit: pnpm/npm-conf@ccf74c4#diff-b34f2f53ab94368c86775969fb604e8375abe03b6a378bdd09896fd91ac0a0d2R30

pnpm version: None

@pnpm/npm-conf version: 2.2.0

Code to reproduce the issue:

Note: For the lack of a Windows system, I haven't tested this myself. But based on the report, I would expect the following code to produce the error on a Windows system:

process.env.APPDATA = undefined;
require("@pnpm/npm-conf")()

Expected behavior:

Module should initialize fine on Windows, even if the APPDATA environment variable is not set.

Actual behavior:

Module throws an error The "path" argument must be of type string. Received undefined

Additional information:

• node -v prints: 18.16.0
• Windows, macOS, or Linux?: Windows 11

[qianhaiyang]

This bug prevents me from installing pnpm under Windows.

When I execute the xxx command, the following error occurs:

Downloading pnpm from GitHub...

Running setup...

node:internal/errors:466
    ErrorCaptureStackTrace(err);
    ^

TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "path" argument must be of type string. Received undefined
    at new NodeError (node:internal/errors:377:5)
    at validateString (node:internal/validators:119:11)
    at Object.resolve (node:path:167:9)
    at ../node_modules/.pnpm/@pnpm+npm-conf@2.2.0/node_modules/@pnpm/npm-conf/lib/defaults.js (C:\snapshot\dist\pnpm.cjs)
    at __require (C:\snapshot\dist\pnpm.cjs)
    at ../node_modules/.pnpm/@pnpm+npm-conf@2.2.0/node_modules/@pnpm/npm-conf/index.js (C:\snapshot\dist\pnpm.cjs)
    at __require (C:\snapshot\dist\pnpm.cjs)
    at ../config/config/lib/index.js (C:\snapshot\dist\pnpm.cjs)
    at __require (C:\snapshot\dist\pnpm.cjs)
    at ../cli/cli-utils/lib/getConfig.js (C:\snapshot\dist\pnpm.cjs) {
  code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE'
}

Node.js v18.1.0

I tried APPDATA in the user environment variable, but it still didn't work.

Is there any way to temporarily fix the error?

[zkochan]

@RandomByte thanks for the detailed issue.

I have published a fix into @pnpm/npm-conf@2.2.2

[seyaobey]

I am facing the same issue with version 8.12.0. In my case, this error appears only when I attempt to install dev dependencies with the -D option.