npm installation failure for PostgreSQL driver on Windows

Other Questions NPM
1

I’m facing problems when trying to install the PostgreSQL database driver using npm on my Windows machine. The process keeps failing because of errors related to Python, even though I have added Python to my environment variables.

I’ve experimented with various ways to set the Python path, but with no luck. Here are the different formats I used:

  • C:/Program Files/Python
  • "C:/Program Files/Python"
  • C:/Program Files/Python/python.exe
  • "C:/Program Files/Python/python.exe"

This is the error message I keep encountering:

D:\Projects\GitHub\inmotion>npm -g install pg
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/pg
npm http 200 https://registry.npmjs.org/pg
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/generic-pool/1.0.12
npm http 200 https://registry.npmjs.org/generic-pool/1.0.12
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/generic-pool/-/generic-pool-1.0.12.tgz
npm http 200 https://registry.npmjs.org/generic-pool/-/generic-pool-1.0.12.tgz

> [email protected] install C:\Users\Guzza\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\pg
> node-gyp rebuild || (exit 0)

gyp ERR! configure error
gyp ERR! stack Error: Can't find Python executable "C:/Program Files/Python", you can set the PYTHON env variable.
gyp ERR! stack     at failNoPython (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\configure.js:95:14)
gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 6.1.7601
gyp ERR! command "node" "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
gyp ERR! cwd C:\Users\Guzza\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\pg
gyp ERR! node -v v0.8.4
gyp ERR! not ok

Has anyone faced a similar issue? What is the proper way to set up Python for npm installations on Windows?

2

i had the same problem too! try installing windows-build-tools with npm, it automatically sets up python and visual studio. way less hassle than doing it all manually.

3

First, make sure Python’s actually installed. Grab Python 2.7 from the official site and check “Add Python to PATH” when installing. The error means node-gyp can’t find Python at all. Once you’ve installed Python 2.7, restart your command prompt and manually set the environment variable: npm config set python "C:\Python27\python.exe" (change the path if needed). Your Node.js v0.8.4 is pretty old though - it doesn’t play nice with newer build tools. I’d upgrade to a recent Node.js version instead. It has better Windows support and you probably won’t need to mess with Python config at all.

4

node-gyp needs the actual python.exe file, not just the directory. Point your PYTHON environment variable to something like C:\Program Files\Python\python.exe (use double backslashes for Windows paths). Also, you’re probably using the wrong Python version - node-gyp needs Python 2.7 for old Node.js versions like yours (v0.8.4). Honestly, I’d just upgrade Node.js instead. Newer versions handle native module compilation way better on Windows.