Docker install Nodejs giving error engine Unsupported engine

Question

I have a docker which install nodejs and npm. It used to work fine previously but since today it has stared to crash with following error.

------
 > [assets 4/9] RUN curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_16.x | bash -     && apt-get install -y         nodejs     && npm i npm@latest -g:
#8 67.38 Setting up nodejs (16.20.2-deb-1nodesource1) ...
#8 67.82 npm ERR! code EBADENGINE
#8 67.82 npm ERR! engine Unsupported engine
#8 67.82 npm ERR! engine Not compatible with your version of node/npm: [email protected]
#8 67.82 npm ERR! notsup Not compatible with your version of node/npm: [email protected]
#8 67.82 npm ERR! notsup Required: {"node":"^18.17.0 || >=20.5.0"}
#8 67.82 npm ERR! notsup Actual:   {"npm":"8.19.4","node":"v16.20.2"} 
#8 67.82 npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
#8 67.82 npm ERR!     /root/.npm/_logs/2023-09-01T07_07_39_330Z-debug-0.log
------

Docker file.

FROM ubuntu:18.04

ENV TMPDIR=/tmp

RUN apt-get update -y \
    && apt-get upgrade -y \
    && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive TZ=Etc/UTC apt-get install -y \
        curl \
        software-properties-common \
        bzip2 \
        git

RUN DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive TZ=Etc/UTC apt-get install -y \
        firefox \
        chromium-browser

# Install Node
RUN curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_16.x | bash - \
    && apt-get install -y \
        nodejs \
    && npm i npm@latest -g

ENV CHROMIUM_BIN=/usr/bin/chromium-browser

RUN rm -rf /app/*

COPY ./code/ /app/
WORKDIR /app

RUN rm -rf node_modules \
    && rm -rf ./static/vendor

RUN npm ci --legacy-peer-deps

I also see some warning related to installation of nodejs command.

#0 0.297 ================================================================================
#0 0.297 ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
#0 0.297 ================================================================================
#0 0.297 
#0 0.297                            SCRIPT DEPRECATION WARNING                    
#0 0.297 
#0 0.297   
#0 0.297   This script, located at https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_X, used to
#0 0.297   install Node.js is deprecated now and will eventually be made inactive.
#0 0.297 
#0 0.297   Please visit the NodeSource distributions Github and follow the
#0 0.297   instructions to migrate your repo.
#0 0.297   https://github.com/nodesource/distributions
#0 0.297 
#0 0.297   The NodeSource Node.js Linux distributions GitHub repository contains
#0 0.297   information about which versions of Node.js and which Linux distributions
#0 0.297   are supported and how to install it.
#0 0.297   https://github.com/nodesource/distributions
#0 0.297 
#0 0.297 
#0 0.297                           SCRIPT DEPRECATION WARNING
#0 0.297 
#0 0.297 ================================================================================
#0 0.297 ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
#0 0.297 ================================================================================

So what is the other best way to insatll Nodejs with docker.

Answer 1

This seems to be caused by an npm 10 release

https://github.com/npm/cli/releases/tag/v10.0.0

support for node 14 and 16 has been dropped. npm now supports node ^18.17.0 || >=20.5.0

Try installing npm 9 in your Dockerfile instead:

npm i npm@9 -g