npm install fails with 'subset is not a function'

I have node v15.14.0 and npm 7.8.0 on Arch Linux x86_64 (installed from that distro's repos).

Starting a project in an empty directory with npm init and then trying to install something with npm i <blah> always fails in the same fashion. An example, run in $HOME/tmp:

$ npm i btoa  npm ERR! subset is not a function    npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:  npm ERR!     $HOME/.npm/_logs/2021-04-08T00_32_19_504Z-debug.log  

That log file reads as follows:

0 verbose cli [ '/usr/bin/node', '/usr/bin/npm', 'i', 'btoa' ]  1 info using npm@7.8.0  2 info using node@v15.14.0  3 timing npm:load:whichnode Completed in 0ms  4 timing config:load:defaults Completed in 1ms  5 timing config:load:file:/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc Completed in 0ms  6 timing config:load:builtin Completed in 0ms  7 timing config:load:cli Completed in 1ms  8 timing config:load:env Completed in 0ms  9 timing config:load:file:$HOME/tmp/.npmrc Completed in 0ms  10 timing config:load:project Completed in 1ms  11 timing config:load:file:$HOME/.npmrc Completed in 0ms  12 timing config:load:user Completed in 0ms  13 timing config:load:file:/usr/etc/npmrc Completed in 0ms  14 timing config:load:global Completed in 0ms  15 timing config:load:validate Completed in 0ms  16 timing config:load:setEnvs Completed in 1ms  17 timing config:load Completed in 5ms  18 timing npm:load:configload Completed in 5ms  19 timing npm:load:setTitle Completed in 0ms  20 timing npm:load:setupLog Completed in 1ms  21 timing npm:load:cleanupLog Completed in 1ms  22 timing npm:load:configScope Completed in 1ms  23 timing npm:load:projectScope Completed in 0ms  24 timing npm:load Completed in 9ms  25 timing config:load:flatten Completed in 2ms  26 timing arborist:ctor Completed in 0ms  27 timing arborist:ctor Completed in 0ms  28 timing idealTree:init Completed in 13ms  29 timing idealTree:userRequests Completed in 3ms  30 silly idealTree buildDeps  31 silly fetch manifest btoa@*  32 http fetch GET 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/btoa 193ms (from cache)  33 silly placeDep ROOT btoa@1.2.1 KEEP for: tmp@1.0.0 want: *  34 timing idealTree:#root Completed in 198ms  35 timing idealTree:buildDeps Completed in 199ms  36 timing idealTree:fixDepFlags Completed in 0ms  37 timing idealTree Completed in 217ms  38 timing reify:loadTrees Completed in 217ms  39 timing reify:diffTrees Completed in 0ms  40 silly reify moves {}  41 timing reify:retireShallow Completed in 0ms  42 timing reify:createSparse Completed in 0ms  43 timing reify:loadBundles Completed in 0ms  44 timing reify:unpack Completed in 0ms  45 timing reify:unretire Completed in 0ms  46 timing build:queue Completed in 0ms  47 timing build:deps Completed in 1ms  48 timing build Completed in 1ms  49 timing reify:build Completed in 1ms  50 timing reify:trash Completed in 0ms  51 timing command:install Completed in 230ms  52 verbose stack TypeError: subset is not a function  52 verbose stack     at Arborist.[saveIdealTree] (/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:956:37)  52 verbose stack     at /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:138:39  52 verbose stack     at async Arborist.reify (/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js:134:5)  52 verbose stack     at async Install.install (/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/install.js:137:5)  53 verbose cwd $HOME/tmp  54 verbose Linux 5.10.25-1-lts  55 verbose argv "/usr/bin/node" "/usr/bin/npm" "i" "btoa"  56 verbose node v15.14.0  57 verbose npm  v7.8.0  58 error subset is not a function  59 verbose exit 1  

So you can see that

• my "global" modules live in /usr/lib/node_modules (where I can install just fine with sudo npm install -g);
• the subset function seems to pop up when the install command calls

/usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js  

I've checked that that file defines

const {subset} = require('semver')  

How do I fix this?

Edit:

This is to address a comment below: this subset issue occurs regardless of what I try to install. btoa was nothing but an example.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66995902/npm-install-fails-with-subset-is-not-a-function April 08, 2021 at 08:42AM