npm - using a higher version nodejs to run code built by a lower version nodejs

Posted on Edited on In

If you’re upgrading Node.js to version 18 and your old code repository, built using an earlier version of Node.js, is no longer running properly due to changes in the dependencies within the node_modules folder, don’t worry. Let’s explore some solutions to fix this problem.

Can’t Install Properly

If you’re having trouble running npm install properly, and you have already tried running npm cache clean --force, deleting node_modules folder, package-lock.json file and then running npm install again, but still encounter issues due to dependencies version conflict in the new peer dependencies’ rule. You can try this command instead:

npm install --lagacy-peer-deps

Can’t Run Properly

After installing everything, you might still encounter an error when running npm start or npm run serve: Error: error:0308010C:digital envelope routines::unsupported.

Reason For The Error

In Node.js version 17, the Node.js developers closed a security hole in the SSL provider, which resulted in a breaking change that affected the SSL packages in NPM. If you use SSL in Node.js version 17 or later without upgrading the SSL packages in your package.json, you may encounter this error.

The Safe Solution (for npm users)

Use an up-to-date version of Node.js and also use packages that are up-to-date with security fixes.

For many people, the following command will fix the issue:

npm audit fix --force

However, for complex builds, the above command may pull in breaking security fixes that could potentially break your build.

Don’t Want To Upgrade All Package Versions?

You can try one of these:

  1. Downgrade to Node.js version 16 (Reinstall or use nvm).

  2. Enable the legacy OpenSSL provider.

On Unix-like systems (Linux, macOS, Git bash, etc.), use:

export NODE_OPTIONS=--openssl-legacy-provider

On Windows command prompt, use:

set NODE_OPTIONS=--openssl-legacy-provider

On PowerShell, use:

$env:NODE_OPTIONS = "--openssl-legacy-provider"

References

Error message “error:0308010C:digital envelope routines::unsupported” - stackoverflow