Why do I get npm install massive error in this repo

Question

I want to use this react-file-viewer but I can't get it running. When I do npm install I get massive error. I'm new to this.

My Node version is v16.9.1

This project is old and created for an older Node version I think so it's so many errors I don't know where to begin. Do you think it can work if I update all package.json dependencies to the newest version?

PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master> npm install
npm WARN deprecated babel-preset-es2015@6.24.1: 🙌  Thanks for using Babel: we recommend using babel-preset-env now: please read https://babeljs.io/env to update!
npm WARN deprecated flatten@1.0.3: flatten is deprecated in favor of utility frameworks such as lodash.
npm WARN deprecated kleur@2.0.2: Please upgrade to kleur@3 or migrate to 'ansi-colors' if you prefer the old syntax. Visit <https://github.com/lukeed/kleur/releases/tag/v3.0.0\> for migration path(s).
npm WARN deprecated request-promise-native@1.0.9: request-promise-native has been deprecated because it extends the now deprecated request package, see https://github.com/request/request/issues/3142
npm WARN deprecated eslint-loader@1.9.0: This loader has been deprecated. Please use eslint-webpack-plugin
npm WARN deprecated urix@0.1.0: Please see https://github.com/lydell/urix#deprecated
npm WARN deprecated har-validator@5.1.5: this library is no longer supported
npm WARN deprecated browserslist@1.7.7: Browserslist 2 could fail on reading Browserslist >3.0 config used in other tools.
npm WARN deprecated browserslist@1.7.7: Browserslist 2 could fail on reading Browserslist >3.0 config used in other tools.
npm WARN deprecated browserslist@1.7.7: Browserslist 2 could fail on reading Browserslist >3.0 config used in other tools.
npm WARN deprecated chokidar@2.1.8: Chokidar 2 will break on node v14+. Upgrade to chokidar 3 with 15x less dependencies.
npm WARN deprecated chokidar@2.1.8: Chokidar 2 will break on node v14+. Upgrade to chokidar 3 with 15x less dependencies.
npm WARN deprecated resolve-url@0.2.1: https://github.com/lydell/resolve-url#deprecated
npm WARN deprecated circular-json@0.3.3: CircularJSON is in maintenance only, flatted is its successor.
npm WARN deprecated browserslist@2.11.3: Browserslist 2 could fail on reading Browserslist >3.0 config used in other tools.
npm WARN deprecated left-pad@1.3.0: use String.prototype.padStart()
npm WARN deprecated html-webpack-plugin@2.30.1: out of support
npm WARN deprecated sane@2.5.2: some dependency vulnerabilities fixed, support for node < 10 dropped, and newer ECMAScript syntax/features added
npm WARN deprecated querystring@0.2.0: The querystring API is considered Legacy. new code should use the URLSearchParams API instead.
npm WARN deprecated uuid@3.4.0: Please upgrade  to version 7 or higher.  Older versions may use Math.random() in certain circumstances, which is known to be problematic.  See https://v8.dev/blog/math-random for details.        
npm WARN deprecated request@2.88.2: request has been deprecated, see https://github.com/request/request/issues/3142
npm WARN deprecated svgo@0.7.2: This SVGO version is no longer supported. Upgrade to v2.x.x.
npm WARN deprecated tar@2.2.2: This version of tar is no longer supported, and will not receive security updates. Please upgrade asap.
npm WARN deprecated core-js@2.6.12: core-js@<3.4 is no longer maintained and not recommended for usage due to the number of issues. Because of the V8 engine whims, feature detection in old core-js versions could cause a slowdown up to 100x even if nothing is polyfilled. Please, upgrade your dependencies to the actual version of core-js.
npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\node-sass
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /d /s /c node scripts/build.js
npm ERR! Building: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js rebuild --verbose --libsass_ext= --libsass_cflags= --libsass_ldflags= --libsass_library=
npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
npm ERR! gyp verb cli [
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   'C:\\Users\\user\\Downloads\\react-file-viewer-master (1)\\react-file-viewer-master\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   'rebuild',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--verbose',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--libsass_ext=',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--libsass_cflags=',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--libsass_ldflags=',
npm ERR! gyp verb cli   '--libsass_library='
npm ERR! gyp verb cli ]
npm ERR! gyp info using node-gyp@3.8.0
npm ERR! gyp info using node@16.9.1 | win32 | x64
npm ERR! gyp verb command rebuild []
npm ERR! gyp verb command clean []
npm ERR! gyp verb clean removing "build" directory
npm ERR! gyp verb command configure []
npm ERR! gyp verb check python checking for Python executable "python2" in the PATH
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed Error: not found: python2
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at getNotFoundError (C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\which\which.js:13:12)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at F (C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\which\which.js:68:19)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at E (C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\which\which.js:80:29)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\which\which.js:89:16
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\isexe\index.js:42:5
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\isexe\windows.js:36:5
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at FSReqCallback.oncomplete (node:fs:198:21)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed  python2 Error: not found: python2
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at getNotFoundError (C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\which\which.js:13:12)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at F (C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\which\which.js:68:19)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at E (C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\which\which.js:80:29)
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\which\which.js:89:16
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\isexe\index.js:42:5
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\isexe\windows.js:36:5
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed     at FSReqCallback.oncomplete (node:fs:198:21) {
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed   code: 'ENOENT'
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed }
npm ERR! gyp verb check python checking for Python executable "python" in the PATH
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` succeeded python C:\Python39\python.EXE
npm ERR! gyp ERR! configure error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: Command failed: C:\Python39\python.EXE -c import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack   File "<string>", line 1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack                       ^
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack SyntaxError: invalid syntax
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.exithandler (node:child_process:397:12)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:394:28)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1064:16)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:301:5)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 10.0.19042
npm ERR! gyp ERR! command "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Users\\user\\Downloads\\react-file-viewer-master (1)\\react-file-viewer-master\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "rebuild" "--verbose" "--libsass_ext=" "--libsass_cflags=" "--libsass_ldflags=" "--libsass_library="
npm ERR! gyp ERR! cwd C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master\node_modules\node-sass
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node -v v16.9.1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v3.8.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! not ok
npm ERR! Build failed with error code: 1

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2021-12-25T08_40_04_195Z-debug.log
PS C:\Users\user\Downloads\react-file-viewer-master (1)\react-file-viewer-master>

Answer 1

Highlighting a few error lines from your error log

npm ERR! gyp verb checks python checking for Python executable "python2" in the PATH
npm ERR! gyp verb `which` failed Error: not found: python2

and

npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack                       ^
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack SyntaxError: invalid syntax

What this simply means is, the process is looking for the Python v2.x and not able to find one. So, the further proceed with Python v3.9 which you have on your computer. But, then they hit the print statement which is not valid in Python v3.x (but valid in Python v2.x)

You can either do

1. Install Python v2.x (side-by-side with Python v3.x).
2. Update the node-sass (which you already did as I saw in one of your comments).

Answer 2

Looks like issue with Python.

Can you run below and check if it helps,

npm install express

Else, try below

delete node_modulesfolder

run npm install --global windows-build-tools with administrative privilege.

reinstal node modules or node-sass with npm install

Answer 3

The error happened when running node-gyp during installation of node-sass as you can see in the error. Also mentioned in the error log, you most likely do not have Python installed.

Try running node-gyp rebuild.

If that fails, it means it is not setup correctly. Follow node-gyp documentation to setup your environment correctly, then re-run npm install.

Also, take a look at node-sass supported Node version.