Gulp Fails to Run After Switching Versions

[davmillar]

Operating system and version:

Alma Linux 9.6

nvm debug output:

nvm --version: v0.40.0
$TERM_PROGRAM: tmux
$SHELL: /bin/bash
$SHLVL: 3
whoami: 'dmillar'
${HOME}: /home/dmillar
${NVM_DIR}: '${HOME}/.nvm'
${PATH}: ${HOME}/dev/pgsh:${HOME}/bin:${HOME}/.linuxbrew/bin:${NVM_DIR}/versions/node/v18.20.8/bin:${HOME}/dev/pgsh:${HOME}/bin:${HOME}/.linuxbrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:${HOME}/bin:${HOME}/.linuxbrew/sbin:${HOME}/bin:${HOME}/.linuxbrew/sbin
$PREFIX: ''
${NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX}: ''
$NVM_NODEJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
$NVM_IOJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
shell version: 'GNU bash, version 5.1.8(1)-release (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu)'
uname -a: 'Linux 5.14.0-570.23.1.el9_6.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue Jun 24 11:27:16 EDT 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux'
checksum binary: 'sha256sum'
OS version: AlmaLinux 9.6 (Sage Margay)
awk: /usr/bin/awk, GNU Awk 5.1.0, API: 3.0 (GNU MPFR 4.1.0-p9, GNU MP 6.2.0)
curl: /usr/bin/curl, curl 7.76.1 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.76.1 OpenSSL/3.2.2 zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.9 libidn2/2.3.0 libpsl/0.21.1 (+libidn2/2.3.0) libssh/0.10.4/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.43.0
wget: /usr/bin/wget, GNU Wget 1.21.1 built on linux-gnu.
git: /usr/bin/git, git version 2.47.1
ls: cannot access 'alias'$'\n''/usr/bin/grep': No such file or directory
grep: alias grep='grep --color=auto --exclude-dir .svn --exclude-dir .git'
        /usr/bin/grep (grep --color=auto --exclude-dir .svn --exclude-dir .git), grep (GNU grep) 3.6
sed: /usr/bin/sed, sed (GNU sed) 4.8
cut: /usr/bin/cut, cut (GNU coreutils) 8.32
basename: /usr/bin/basename, basename (GNU coreutils) 8.32
rm: /usr/bin/rm, rm (GNU coreutils) 8.32
mkdir: /usr/bin/mkdir, mkdir (GNU coreutils) 8.32
xargs: /usr/bin/xargs, xargs (GNU findutils) 4.8.0
nvm current: v18.20.8
which node: ${NVM_DIR}/versions/node/v18.20.8/bin/node
which iojs: /usr/bin/which: no iojs in (${HOME}/dev/pgsh:${HOME}/bin:${HOME}/.linuxbrew/bin:${NVM_DIR}/versions/node/v18.20.8/bin:${HOME}/dev/pgsh:${HOME}/bin:${HOME}/.linuxbrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:${HOME}/bin:${HOME}/.linuxbrew/sbin:${HOME}/bin:${HOME}/.linuxbrew/sbin)
which npm: ${NVM_DIR}/versions/node/v18.20.8/bin/npm
npm config get prefix: ${NVM_DIR}/versions/node/v18.20.8
npm root -g: ${NVM_DIR}/versions/node/v18.20.8/lib/node_modules

nvm ls output:

->     v18.20.8
       v22.16.0
default -> 22 (-> v22.16.0)
iojs -> N/A (default)
unstable -> N/A (default)
node -> stable (-> v22.16.0) (default)
stable -> 22.16 (-> v22.16.0) (default)
lts/* -> lts/jod (-> N/A)
lts/argon -> v4.9.1 (-> N/A)
lts/boron -> v6.17.1 (-> N/A)
lts/carbon -> v8.17.0 (-> N/A)
lts/dubnium -> v10.24.1 (-> N/A)
lts/erbium -> v12.22.12 (-> N/A)
lts/fermium -> v14.21.3 (-> N/A)
lts/gallium -> v16.20.2 (-> N/A)
lts/hydrogen -> v18.20.8
lts/iron -> v20.19.3 (-> N/A)
lts/jod -> v22.17.0 (-> N/A)

How did you install nvm?

Install script from readme

What steps did you perform?

corepack enable
yarn
yarn build
nvm install 18
nvm use 18
yarn build

The build script is simply running gulp with no additional flags.

What happened?

After switching to 18, attempting to build results in "permission denied: gulp". I can use npx gulp to run gulp fine and the build works as intended, but I can't use yarn build.

I tried blowing away the .yarn folder, node_modules, and yarn.lock and reinstalling, but still get the same issue. Switching back with nvm use 22 and retrying allows it to work fine, but the target environment I need to debug for is stuck on node 18 for the moment. I'm unsure how to proceed with debugging permissions for gulp or whether that's related to nvm's handling of yarn.

What did you expect to happen?

I expected the build to work as before.

Is there anything in any of your profile files that modifies the PATH?

My bashrc file does.

[ljharb]

I'm assuming because you have gulp globally installed? Global modules need to be installed separately in each node version, because they can't be shared across node versions.

npx gulp should always be the command you use, because gulp should be a dev dep in the project, and you want to use the right version. I wouldn't have it globally installed at all, ever.

[davmillar]

I'm assuming because you have gulp globally installed? Global modules need to be installed separately in each node version, because they can't be shared across node versions.

npx gulp should always be the command you use, because gulp should be a dev dep in the project, and you want to use the right version. I wouldn't have it globally installed at all, ever.

Gulp is defined as a dev dep in this project. Are you saying the script in the package.json definition for "build" should be "npx gulp" instead of just "gulp"? I was under the assumption it would run in that context by default when using yarn to run the script.

[ljharb]

ah, no, gulp by itself should work just fine in a package.json script. Given all of that, I would assume this should work.

However, I note you're using a pretty outdated version of nvm - can you try updating to the latest?

[davmillar]

ah, no, gulp by itself should work just fine in a package.json script. Given all of that, I would assume this should work.

However, I note you're using a pretty outdated version of nvm - can you try updating to the latest?

I've updated to the latest version of nvm but still seem to have the same issue -- both with gulp and with jest in another repo. Prepending the package scripts with npx in the appropriate places seems to be a solid enough remedy though so I can do that and should be fine.