Known Zowe CLI issues
Known Zowe CLI issues
The following topics contain information that can help you troubleshoot problems when you encounter unexpected behavior installing and using Zowe™ CLI.
Zowe commands fail with secure credential errors
Valid on Windows, macOS, and Linux
Symptoms:
After you install Zowe CLI, and the installation appears to complete successfully, Zowe commands that load the secure credential store return error messages. For example, the following commands return error messages:
zowe config init
zowe config secure
zowe profiles create
- Most Zowe commands that access your mainframe environment
This behavior occurs under the following conditions:
- npm version 8.11.0 or 8.12.0 is running on your computer.
- The computer on which you installed Zowe CLI cannot access the Internet or it has limited access to the Internet. Your site does not allow connections to https://github.com/.
- You installed Zowe CLI from a local package or from an NPM public online registry
Solution:
-
Define the
npm_config_global
environment variable. Issue the command that corresponds with your operating system:- Windows Command Prompt:
set npm_config_global=true
- Windows PowerShell:
$env:npm_config_global="true"
- macOS/Linux Bash:
export npm_config_global=true
- Windows Command Prompt:
-
Install or reinstall Zowe CLI using your preferred installation method.
-
After the Zowe CLI installation completes, reset the
npm_config_global
environment variable. Issue the command that corresponds with your operating system:- Windows Command Prompt:
set npm_config_global=
- Windows PowerShell:
$env:npm_config_global=""
- macOS/Linux Bash:
export npm_config_global=
- Windows Command Prompt:
-
Continue configuring Zowe CLI. Or, reissue a Zowe command that returned an error message. You should no longer get an error message.
Chain commands fail in a batch script
Valid on Windows
Symptom: When invoking Zowe CLI in a batch script (.bat
or .cmd
file), subsequent commands in the script do not run.
Solution:
To prevent the Zowe executable from taking control and stopping the execution of the script it is called from, add call
in front of each Zowe CLI command.
In the example below, the script never prints "hello" to the terminal:
zowe --version
echo hello
To fix this, add call
before the Zowe CLI command.
call zowe --version
echo hello
For multiple Zowe CLI commands, see the following example:
call zowe --version
echo hello
call zowe --version
echo goodbye
Command not found message displays when issuing npm install
commands
Valid on all supported platforms
Symptom:
When you issue NPM commands to install the CLI, the message command not found displays. The message indicates that Node.js and NPM are not installed on your computer, or that PATH does not contain the correct path to the NodeJS folder.
Solution:
To correct this behavior, verify the following:
- Node.js and NPM are installed.
- PATH contains the correct path to the NodeJS folder.
More Information: System requirements for Zowe CLI
EACCESS error when issing npm install
command
Valid on Windows, Mac, or Linux
Symptom:
An EACCESS
error is returned when you issue the npm install -g
command to install a package from Zowe.org or npm.
Solution:
To resolve the issue, follow the steps described in Resolving EACCESS permissions errors when installing packages globally in the npm documentation.
Installation fails on Oracle Linux 6
Valid on Oracle Linux 6
Symptom:
You receive error messages when you attempt to install the product on an Oracle Linux 6 operating system.
Solution:
Install the product on Oracle Linux 7 or another Linux or Windows OS. Zowe CLI is not compatible with Oracle Linux 6.
Node.js commands do not respond as expected
Valid on Windows or Linux
Symptom:
You attempt to issue node.js commands and you do not receive the expected output.
Solution:
There might be a program that is named node on your path. The Node.js installer automatically adds a program that is named node to your path. When there are pre-existing programs that are named node on your computer, the program that appears first in the path is used. To correct this behavior, change the order of the programs in the path so that Node.js appears first.
npm install -g
command fails due to an EPERM error
Valid on Windows
Symptom:
This behavior is due to a problem with Node Package Manager (npm). There is an open issue on the npm GitHub repository to fix the defect.
Solution:
If you encounter this problem, some users report that repeatedly attempting to install Zowe CLI yields success. Some users also report success using the following workarounds:
-
Issue the
npm cache clean
command. -
Uninstall and reinstall Zowe CLI. For more information, see Install Zowe CLI.
-
Add the --no-optional
flag to the end of thenpm install
command.
npm install -g
command fails due to npm ERR! Cannot read property 'pause' of undefined
error
Valid on Windows or Linux
Symptom:
You receive the error message npm ERR! Cannot read property 'pause' of undefined
when you attempt to install the product.
Solution:
This behavior is due to a problem with Node Package Manager (npm). If you encounter this problem, revert to a previous version of npm that does not contain this defect. To revert to a previous version of npm, issue the following command:
npm install npm@5.3.0 -g
Paths converting in Git Bash
Valid on Windows
Symptom:
When issuing a command with an absolute directory path that begins with a forward slash, Git Bash converts it into an invalid path that does not exist.
If a command includes a path similar to the following example:
/a/ibmuser/my_dir
Git Bash can erroneously convert the root directory to a drive letter, as in the example below:
A:/ibmuser/my_dir
Note: Depending on the root directory, the Git Bash conversion can add other directories it assumes to be included in the path.
Solutions:
-
Replace the single slash in front of a path with double slashes (//). This stops Git Bash from remapping the path.
To avoid conversion in the example above, edit the path in the following manner:
//a/ibmuser/my_dir
-
Set the environment variable
MSYS_NO_PATHCONV
to1
in one of the following ways:-
Use the export command.
While running commands in a terminal, run the export command once during that terminal session. If writing a script, run the command once at the top of the script.
The export command is included in the following example:
export MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1
zowe zos-files upload dir-to-uss local_dir /a/ibmuser/my_dir -
Set the environment variable in your
~/.bashrc
file to define it permanently.
-
The better option depends on particular circumstances. Using double forward slashes is a good choice when defining system-wide environment variables could cause problems with other applications. On the other hand, the environment variable helps avoid rewriting paths on every CLI command that uses them.
Sudo
syntax required to complete some installations
Valid on Linux and macOS
Symptom:
The installation fails on Linux or macOS.
Solution:
Depending on how you configured Node.js on Linux or macOS, you might need to add the prefix sudo
before the npm install -g
command or the npm uninstall -g
command. This step gives Node.js write access to the installation directory.