Invalid (corrupted) package.json file after npm install in a vagrant box - node.js

Question

I have been trying to fix a vagrant setup for a laravel project.
Context
Host: Mac
Guest: Ubuntu 16.04
versions:
$ npm --version
2.15.9
$ node --version
v4.5.0
Problem
When I run $ npm install some of the dependency packages (apparently randomly) come with invalid characters and $ gulp fails.
To be more precise, the end of the corrupted file shows some invalid characters:
$ gulp
module.js:85
throw e;
^
SyntaxError: Error parsing /vagrant/node_modules/gulp-bower/node_modules/bower/lib/node_modules/graceful-fs/package.json: Unexpected token
And if you go to the file you will see, in the pointed line, a lot of weird characters.
But, as I said, the invalid dependency package varies every time I rm -Rf node_modules and then run a $ npm install again.
For the second time, for instance, I've got this:
$gulp
module.js:85
throw e;
^
SyntaxError: Error parsing /vagrant/node_modules/gulp-bower/node_modules/bower/lib/node_modules/configstore/package.json: Unexpected token
The invalid package.json file looks like this:
{
"_args": [
[
"configstore#^2.0.0",
"/private/var/folders/22/xz6_9gpx3jggts_8j68_25g80000gn/T/tmp-51023WwSVKpwQ7KvH"
]
],
"_from": "configstore#>=2.0.0 <3.0.0",
"_id": "configstore#2.0.0",
"_inCache": true,
"_installable": true,
"_location": "/configstore",
"_nodeVersion": "4.3.0",
"_npmOperationalInternal": {
"host": "packages-5-east.internal.npmjs.com",
"tmp": "tmp/configstore-2.0.0.tgz_1456822157166_0.897884224774316"
},
"_npmUser": {
"email": "sindresorhus#gmail.com",
"name": "sindresorhus"
},
"_npmVersion": "2.14.12",
"_phantomChildren": {},
"_requested": {
"name": "configstore",
"raw": "configstore#^2.0.0",
"rawSpec": "^2.0.0",
"scope": null,
"spec": ">=2.0.0 <3.0.0",
"type": "range"
},
"_requiredBy": [
"/",
"/update-notifier"
],
"_resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/configstore/-/configstore-2.0.0.tgz",
"_shasum": "8d81e9cdfa73ebd0e06bc985147856b2f1c4e764",
"_shrinkwrap": null,
"_spec": "configstore#^2.0.0",
"_where": "/private/var/folders/22/xz6_9gpx3jggts_8j68_25g80000gn/T/tmp-51023WwSVKpwQ7KvH",
"author": {
"email": "sindresorhus#gmail.com",
"name": "Sindre Sorhus",
"url": "sindresorhus.com"
},
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If I run $ npm install from the host machine, the packages are downloaded correctly and $ gulp runs just fine.
My Configuration
I don't believe that my configuration is going to be relevant because the commands were executed after a $ vagrant ssh but, here they are:
Vagrantfile
Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
config.vm.box = "geerlingguy/ubuntu1604"
config.vm.synced_folder "../laravel", "/vagrant",
owner: "vagrant",
group: "www-data",
mount_options: ["dmode=775,fmode=775"]
config.vm.network :forwarded_port, guest: 80, host: 8080, auto_correct: true
config.vm.network :forwarded_port, guest: 3306, host: 3306, auto_correct: true
config.vm.provision :hostmanager
config.hostmanager.manage_host = true
config.hostmanager.manage_guest = true
config.hostmanager.ignore_private_ip = false
config.hostmanager.include_offline = true
config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
vb.gui = false
vb.memory = "1024"
vb.cpus = "1"
vb.name = "Dev"
end
config.vm.define "dev" do |dev|
config.vm.hostname = "dev.local"
dev.vm.network :private_network, ip: '192.168.11.25'
dev.vm.provision "ansible" do |ansible|
ansible.playbook = "provisioning/playbook.yml"
end
end
end
main.yml
#Apache 2 Settings
apache_listen_port: 80
apache_create_vhosts: true
apache_remove_default_vhost: true
apache_global_vhost_settings: |
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
apache_vhosts:
- servername: "dev.local"
documentroot: "/vagrant/public/"
serveralias: "dev.local"
#PHP Settings
php_use_managed_ini: false
php_error_reporting: "E_ALL & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT"
php_display_errors: "On"
php_display_startup_errors: "On"
php_packages:
- libapache2-mod-php7.0
- php7.0-mysql
- php7.0-curl
- php7.0-mcrypt
- php7.0-mbstring
- php7.0-xml
- php7.0-gd
- php7.0-common
- php7.0-cli
- php7.0-dev
- php7.0-fpm
- libpcre3-dev
- php7.0-imap
- php7.0-json
- php7.0-opcache
- php7.0-intl
- php7.0-zip
- php-sqlite3
- php-apcu
#MySQL Settings
mysql_root_password: root
mysql_root_password_update: yes
mysql_bind_address: '0.0.0.0'
# NodeJS
nodejs_version: "4.x"
#Redis Settings
redis_port: 6379
redis_bind_interface: 0.0.0.0
playbook.yml
---
- name: Dev machine setup
hosts: dev
user: vagrant
become: yes
vars_files:
- vars/main.yml
pre_tasks:
- apt: name=unzip update_cache=yes state=present
roles:
- role: geerlingguy.mysql
- role: geerlingguy.apache
- role: geerlingguy.php
- role: geerlingguy.php-mysql
- role: geerlingguy.nodejs
- role: geerlingguy.redis
- role: geerlingguy.apache-php-fpm
- role: geerlingguy.php-xdebug
- role: geerlingguy.composer
tasks:
- name: Allow root remote access
shell: >
mysql -u root -proot -NBe
"GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'#'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'root';"
- name: Ensure MySQL databases are present.
mysql_db:
name: appdb
encoding: utf8
collation: utf8_unicode_ci
# .env File Settings
- name: Copy and rename .env.example
template: src=../../laravel/.env.example dest=/vagrant/.env
- name: set DB_HOST=dev.local
lineinfile: dest=/vagrant/.env regexp='^DB_HOST=' line=DB_HOST=dev.local
- name: set DB_DATABASE=appdb
lineinfile: dest=/vagrant/.env regexp='^DB_DATABASE=' line=DB_DATABASE=appdb
- name: set DB_USERNAME=root
lineinfile: dest=/vagrant/.env regexp='^DB_USERNAME=' line=DB_USERNAME=root
- name: set DB_PASSWORD=root
lineinfile: dest=/vagrant/.env regexp='^DB_PASSWORD=' line=DB_PASSWORD=root
# Storage Settings
- file: path=/vagrant/storage/framework/sessions state=directory mode=0777
- file: path=/vagrant/storage/framework/views state=directory mode=0777
- file: path=/vagrant/storage/framework/cache state=directory mode=0777
# Composer
- composer: command=install working_dir=/vagrant/ no_dev=no
# NPM Global
- name: Install Gulp-cli globally.
npm: name=gulp-cli global=yes
- name: Install gulp globaly
npm: name=gulp global=yes
- name: Install bower globally.
npm: name=bower global=yes
# Artisan Tasks
- name: Install Migrations and Seed
command: php artisan migrate:refresh --seed
become: true
become_user: vagrant
args:
chdir: /vagrant/
- name: Generate a new app key
command: php artisan key:generate
become: true
become_user: vagrant
args:
chdir: /vagrant/
- name: Generate JS Routes
command: php artisan laroute:generate
become: true
become_user: vagrant
args:
chdir: /vagrant/
- name: Create Symbolic Link
file: src=/vagrant/storage/app/public dest=/vagrant/public/storage state=link

Answer 1

It turns out that it was a problem during folder syncing. I've changed to this
config.vm.synced_folder "../laravel", "/vagrant",
:nfs => true,
:linux__nfs_options => ['rw','no_subtree_check','all_squash','async']
And it started working.
Finally!