What causes "Failed to install Node.js: {result.get('output', '')}" in abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus?

Pre-bake Node.js 20 into the Docker image (Dockerfile: RUN the same nodesource setup at build time) so setup is a no-op at eval time.

abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus · error · RuntimeError

Failed to install Node.js: {result.get('output', '')}

Error message

Failed to install Node.js: {result.get('output', '')}

What it means

Thrown by GitNexusDockerEnvironment.setup inside eval/environments/gitnexus_docker.py when the container has no Node.js, the env runs the NodeSource setup_20.x bootstrap, and any of apt-get update / install curl / curl-setup / apt install nodejs returns non-zero. The message includes the captured stdout/stderr so you can see which step failed.

Source

Thrown at eval/environments/gitnexus_docker.py:128

        logger.info(f"GitNexus setup completed in {self.index_time:.1f}s")

    def _ensure_nodejs(self):
        """Ensure Node.js >= 18 is available in the container."""
        check = self.execute({"command": "node --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'NOT_FOUND'"})
        output = check.get("output", "").strip()

        if "NOT_FOUND" in output:
            logger.info("Installing Node.js in container...")
            install_cmds = [
                "apt-get update -qq",
                "apt-get install -y -qq curl ca-certificates",
                "curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash -",
                "apt-get install -y -qq nodejs",
            ]
            for cmd in install_cmds:
                result = self.execute({"command": cmd, "timeout": 60})
                if result.get("returncode", 1) != 0:
                    raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to install Node.js: {result.get('output', '')}")
        else:
            logger.info(f"Node.js already available: {output}")

    def _install_gitnexus(self):
        """Install the gitnexus npm package globally."""
        check = self.execute({"command": "npx gitnexus --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'NOT_FOUND'"})
        if "NOT_FOUND" in check.get("output", ""):
            logger.info("Installing gitnexus...")
            result = self.execute({
                "command": "npm install -g gitnexus",
                "timeout": 60,
            })
            if result.get("returncode", 1) != 0:
                raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to install gitnexus: {result.get('output', '')}")

    def _index_repository(self):
        """Run gitnexus analyze on the repo, using cache if available."""
        repo_info = self._get_repo_info()

View on GitHub (pinned to d540b00184)

Solutions

Pre-bake Node.js 20 into the Docker image (Dockerfile: RUN the same nodesource setup at build time) so setup is a no-op at eval time.
Ensure the eval runner has outbound internet to deb.nodesource.com and the default Ubuntu apt mirrors.
Raise the per-step timeout in the execute() call (currently 60s) for slow networks, or set HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY for the container.
Point apt at a mirror reachable from the environment, or use a Node base image (e.g. swebench image variant with node preinstalled).
Run `docker run --rm <image> bash -lc 'node -v || apt-get update'` locally to reproduce which step fails.

Example fix

# before: container image has no node, install fails at eval time
result = self.execute({'command': cmd, 'timeout': 60})
raise RuntimeError(f'Failed to install Node.js: {result.get("output", "")}')

# after: bake Node into the image (Dockerfile)
# RUN curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash - && apt-get install -y nodejs

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

# Preflight: ensure Node is present in the image before invoking setup.
docker run --rm "$IMAGE" bash -lc 'node -v && npm -v' \
  || echo 'Need to pre-bake Node into the image; nodesource bootstrap at eval time is fragile'

Type guard

def is_node_install_failure(exc: RuntimeError) -> bool:
    return 'Failed to install Node.js' in str(exc)

Try / catch

try:
    env._install_node()
except RuntimeError as e:
    if is_node_install_failure(e):
        logger.warning('Node bootstrap failed; using pre-baked image fallback')
        # fall back to an image variant that already has Node
    else:
        raise

Prevention

Bake Node 20 into the SWE-bench image at build time.
Confirm the eval runner has outbound access to deb.nodesource.com and the apt mirrors.
Raise the 60s per-step timeout for slow networks, or use an HTTP proxy.

When it happens

Trigger: The SWE-bench eval container lacks Node; the bootstrap loop runs `apt-get update -qq`, `apt-get install -y -qq curl ca-certificates`, `curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash -`, `apt-get install -y -qq nodejs`; if any of these exits non-zero within the 60s per-step timeout, RuntimeError fires.

Common situations: Container/CI has no outbound internet or a restricted apt mirror; deb.nodesource.com is unreachable or rate-limits the CI; old apt cache conflicts; 60s per-step timeout too short for slow networks; corporate proxy blocks raw apt.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus@d540b00184 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0eaa79e9fb8b247d. Report an issue: GitHub.