sourcing nvm.sh exits with code 3 when .nvmrc is present and version is not installed

[pvinis]

When I source nvm.sh like . "$HOME/.nvm/nvm.sh" for manual install and like . $(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh, the exit code is 3.

Even though nvm works after that, in bash scripts with set -e, the script stops there, since the command exits with a non-zero value.

Is there a reason this fails? Is there a reason it exits with 3, if it's not an actual failure? What can we do about that?

Some extra info:

• output of . nvm.sh with set -x for "tracing": https://pastebin.com/raw/1Tk9UUsp

• Operating system and version: macOS 10.14.2 (mojave)

• nvm debug output:

  Details

nvm --version: v0.34.0
$TERM_PROGRAM: iTerm.app
$SHELL: /bin/zsh
$SHLVL: 1
$HOME: /Users/pvinis
$NVM_DIR: '$HOME/.nvm'
$PATH: $HOME/.gem/ruby/2.5.1/bin:$HOME/.rubies/ruby-2.5.1/lib/ruby/gems/2.5.0/bin:$HOME/.rubies/ruby-2.5.1/bin:$NVM_DIR/versions/node/v11.0.0/bin:$HOME/.config/yarn/global/node_modules/.bin:$HOME/.yarn/bin:$HOME/Library/Python/3.7/bin:$HOME/.fastlane/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/MacGPG2/bin:/opt/X11/bin:$HOME/.rvm/bin
$PREFIX: ''
$NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX: ''
$NVM_NODEJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
$NVM_IOJS_ORG_MIRROR: ''
shell version: 'zsh 5.3 (x86_64-apple-darwin18.0)'
uname -a: 'Darwin 18.2.0 Darwin Kernel Version 18.2.0: Mon Nov 12 20:24:46 PST 2018; root:xnu-4903.231.4~2/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64'
OS version: Mac 10.14.2 18C54
curl: /usr/bin/curl, curl 7.54.0 (x86_64-apple-darwin18.0) libcurl/7.54.0 LibreSSL/2.6.4 zlib/1.2.11 nghttp2/1.24.1
wget: not found
git: /usr/local/bin/git, git version 2.19.1
grep: /usr/bin/grep, grep (BSD grep) 2.5.1-FreeBSD
awk: /usr/bin/awk, awk version 20070501
sed: illegal option -- -
usage: sed script [-Ealn] [-i extension] [file ...]
       sed [-Ealn] [-i extension] [-e script] ... [-f script_file] ... [file ...]
sed: /usr/bin/sed,
cut: illegal option -- -
usage: cut -b list [-n] [file ...]
       cut -c list [file ...]
       cut -f list [-s] [-d delim] [file ...]
cut: /usr/bin/cut,
basename: illegal option -- -
usage: basename string [suffix]
       basename [-a] [-s suffix] string [...]
basename: /usr/bin/basename,
rm: illegal option -- -
usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ...
       unlink file
rm: /bin/rm,
mkdir: illegal option -- -
usage: mkdir [-pv] [-m mode] directory ...
mkdir: /bin/mkdir,
xargs: illegal option -- -
usage: xargs [-0opt] [-E eofstr] [-I replstr [-R replacements]] [-J replstr]
             [-L number] [-n number [-x]] [-P maxprocs] [-s size]
             [utility [argument ...]]
xargs: /usr/bin/xargs,
nvm current: v11.0.0
which node: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v11.0.0/bin/node
which iojs: iojs not found
which npm: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v11.0.0/bin/npm
npm config get prefix: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v11.0.0
npm root -g: $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v11.0.0/lib/node_modules

• nvm ls output:
  Details

        v8.12.0
       v10.12.0
->      v11.0.0
         system
default -> v11 (-> v11.0.0)
node -> stable (-> v11.0.0) (default)
stable -> 11.0 (-> v11.0.0) (default)
iojs -> N/A (default)
unstable -> N/A (default)
lts/* -> lts/dubnium (-> N/A)
lts/argon -> v4.9.1 (-> N/A)
lts/boron -> v6.14.4 (-> N/A)
lts/carbon -> v8.12.0
lts/dubnium -> v10.13.0 (-> N/A)

• How did you install nvm? (e.g. install script in readme, Homebrew): Tried both. I mostly do from brew though, since it's easier.

• What steps did you perform? source the file

• What happened? worked, but exits with non-zero value

• What did you expect to happen? to exit with a 0 value since everything seemingly went well

• Is there anything in any of your profile files (.bashrc, .bash_profile, .zshrc, etc) that modifies the PATH? I ran this without any $PATH alterations. In general I don't have anything in there that touch nvm. Only to include brew stuff.

[ghostd]

I experimented the same issue when i needed to use nvm in a Jenkins pipeline for a project with .nvmrc file.

My first attempt was:

stage('Install Node.js') {
    steps {
        script {
            sh '''
                [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \\. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" --install
            '''
        }
    }
}

Investigation

After digging i found:

• nvm.sh does not "see" the arguments, and it always runs in "use" mode ($# always equals 0).
• by default, the Jenkins shell step invokes /bin/sh
• on the server (Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS) hosting Jenkins, /bin/sh is a symbolic link to dash

Reproduction

I can reproduce the issue with the following steps:

• in a directory with a .nvmrc file, create a tmp.txt file with the following content [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" --no-use
• with a user which has no nvm loaded, execute the following command: /bin/sh -xe tmp.txt

Workaround

I changed the shell used to run my Jenkins step with bash and it works:

stage('Install Node.js') {
    steps {
        script {
            sh '''#!/bin/bash -xe
                [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \\. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" --install
            '''
        }
    }
}

BTW, I tried the workaround of temporarily renaming .nvmrc, and it also worked.