Stop requiring users to have Python installed

[lloydjatkinson]

OS: Windows 10
Node: 17.0.1

This is only a problem in Node 16 and above, it was not a problem for previous versions.

Running npm install on a machine without Python installed creates this stack trace:

npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path C:\Users\Lloyd\source\repos\website\frontend\node_modules\deasync
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /d /s /c node ./build.js
npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
npm ERR! gyp info using [email protected]
npm ERR! gyp info using [email protected] | win32 | x64
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python Python is not set from command line or npm configuration
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python Python is not set from environment variable PYTHON
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python checking if "python3" can be used
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python - "python3" is not in PATH or produced an error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python checking if "python" can be used
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python - "python" is not in PATH or produced an error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python checking if "python2" can be used
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python - "python2" is not in PATH or produced an error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python checking if Python is C:\Python37\python.exe
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python - "C:\Python37\python.exe" could not be run
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python checking if Python is C:\Python27\python.exe
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python - "C:\Python27\python.exe" could not be run
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python checking if the py launcher can be used to find Python
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python - "py.exe" is not in PATH or produced an error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python **********************************************************
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python You need to install the latest version of Python.
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python Node-gyp should be able to find and use Python. If not,
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python you can try one of the following options:
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python - Use the switch --python="C:\Path\To\python.exe"
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python   (accepted by both node-gyp and npm)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python - Set the environment variable PYTHON
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python - Set the npm configuration variable python:
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python   npm config set python "C:\Path\To\python.exe"
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python For more information consult the documentation at:
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp#installation
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python **********************************************************
npm ERR! gyp ERR! find Python
npm ERR! gyp ERR! configure error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: Could not find any Python installation to use
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at PythonFinder.fail (C:\Users\Lloyd\source\repos\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\find-python.js:302:47)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at PythonFinder.runChecks (C:\Users\Lloyd\source\repos\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\find-python.js:136:21)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at PythonFinder.<anonymous> (C:\Users\Lloyd\source\repos\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\find-python.js:200:18)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at PythonFinder.execFileCallback (C:\Users\Lloyd\source\repos\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\find-python.js:266:16)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at exithandler (node:child_process:404:5)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.errorhandler (node:child_process:416:5)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:390:28)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:288:12)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at onErrorNT (node:internal/child_process:475:16)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:83:21)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 10.0.19042
npm ERR! gyp ERR! command "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Users\\Lloyd\\source\\repos\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
npm ERR! gyp ERR! cwd C:\Users\Lloyd\source\repos\website\frontend\node_modules\deasync
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node -v v17.0.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v7.1.2
npm ERR! gyp ERR! not ok
npm ERR! Build failed

I don't use Python at all and have successfully managed to avoid dealing with any Node GYP nonsense until now. Unfortunately somehow Node 16+ causes the above problem.

This problem will only get worse in time as Node 14 LTS is deprecated and everybody upgrades.

Please could this be investigated?

(I don't even know why npm install should be triggering a C++ compiler via Python, rather than just shipping the binaries on NPM)

[kohenkatz]

You need to upgrade to a newer version of deasync -- specifically, prebuilt binaries for Node 17 were added in v0.1.24 (and for Node 16 shortly before that).