How to fix ReferenceError: primordials is not defined in node
I hit the same error. I suspect you're using node 12 and gulp 3. That combination does not work: https://github.com/gulpjs/gulp/issues/2324
A previous workaround from Jan. does not work either: https://github.com/gulpjs/gulp/issues/2246
Solution: Either upgrade to gulp 4 or downgrade to an earlier node.
We encountered the same issue when updating a legacy project depending on [email protected]
to Node.js 12+.
These fixes enable you to use Node.js 12+ with [email protected]
by overriding graceful-fs
to version ^4.2.4
.
If you are using yarn v1
Yarn v1 supports resolving a package to a defined version.
You need to add a resolutions
section to your package.json
:
{
// Your current package.json contents
"resolutions": {
"graceful-fs": "^4.2.4"
}
}
Thanks @jazd for this way to solve the issue.
If you are using npm
Using npm-force-resolutions
as a preinstall script, you can obtain a similar result as with yarn v1. You need to modify your package.json this way:
{
// Your current package.json
"scripts": {
// Your current package.json scripts
"preinstall": "npx npm-force-resolutions"
},
"resolutions": {
"graceful-fs": "^4.2.4"
}
}
npm-force-resolutions
will alter the package-lock.json
file to set graceful-fs
to the wanted version before the install
is done.
If you are using a custom .npmrc
file in your project and it contains either a proxy or custom registry, you might need to change npx npm-force-resolutions
to npx --userconfig .npmrc npm-force-resolutions
because as of now, npx
doesn't use the current folder .npmrc
file by default.
Origin of the problem
This issue stems from the fact that [email protected]
depends on graceful-fs@^3.0.0
which monkeypatches Node.js fs
module.
This used to work with Node.js until version 11.15 (which is a version from a development branch and shouldn't be used in production).
graceful-fs@^4.0.0
does not monkeypatch Node.js fs
module anymore, which makes it compatible with Node.js > 11.15 (tested and working with versions 12 and 14).
Note that this is not a perennial solution but it helps when you don't have the time to update to gulp@^4.0.0
.
Fix it in 1 minute:
Just follow these steps. I'm on windows 10 and it worked perfectly for me!
- In the same directory where you have
package.json
create anpm-shrinkwrap.json
file with the following contents:
{
"dependencies": {
"graceful-fs": {
"version": "4.2.2"
}
}
}
Run
npm install
, and don't worry, it will updatenpm-shrinkwrap.json
with a bunch of content.Run
gulp
to start the project.