npm install报错问题的定位处理思路

当使用一些github上他人开发的老项目时，由于依赖包的版本比较旧，在npm install时就可能会遇到一些奇怪的报错问题。
比如这里clone完工程文件后，在运行npm install时报错

gyp ERR! build error
gyp ERR! stack Error: `C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\MSBuild.exe` failed with exit code: 1
gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.onExit (C:\Develop\Environment\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\lib\build.js:194:23)
gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:400:28)
gyp ERR! stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:282:12)
gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 10.0.15063
gyp ERR! command "C:\\Develop\\Environment\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Develop\\Environment\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\node_modules\\node-gyp\\bin\\node-gyp.js" "build" "--fallback-to-build" "--loglevel=http" "--module=C:\\Develop\\Workspace\\Javascript\\simple-excel-parser-electron\\node_modules\\libxmljs\\build\\Release\\xmljs.node" "--module_name=xmljs" "--module_path=C:\\Develop\\Workspace\\Javascript\\simple-excel-parser-electron\\node_modules\\libxmljs\\build\\Release" "--napi_version=8" "--node_abi_napi=napi"
gyp ERR! cwd C:\Develop\Workspace\Javascript\simple-excel-parser-electron\node_modules\libxmljs
gyp ERR! node -v v14.18.1
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v5.1.0
gyp ERR! not ok
node-pre-gyp ERR! build error
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack Error: Failed to execute 'C:\Develop\Environment\nodejs\node.exe C:\Develop\Environment\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js build --fallback-to-build --loglevel=http --module=C:\Develop\Workspace\Javascript\simple-excel-parser-electron\node_modules\libxmljs\build\Release\xmljs.node --module_name=xmljs --module_path=C:\Develop\Workspace\Javascript\simple-excel-parser-electron\node_modules\libxmljs\build\Release --napi_version=8 --node_abi_napi=napi' (1)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (C:\Develop\Workspace\Javascript\simple-excel-parser-electron\node_modules\libxmljs\node_modules\node-pre-gyp\lib\util\compile.js:83:29)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:400:28)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack     at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:1058:16)
node-pre-gyp ERR! stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:293:5)
node-pre-gyp ERR! System Windows_NT 10.0.15063
node-pre-gyp ERR! command "C:\\Develop\\Environment\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Develop\\Workspace\\Javascript\\simple-excel-parser-electron\\node_modules\\libxmljs\\node_modules\\node-pre-gyp\\bin\\node-pre-gyp" "install" "--fallback-to-build" "--loglevel" "http"
node-pre-gyp ERR! cwd C:\Develop\Workspace\Javascript\simple-excel-parser-electron\node_modules\libxmljs
node-pre-gyp ERR! node -v v14.18.1
node-pre-gyp ERR! node-pre-gyp -v v0.9.1
node-pre-gyp ERR! not ok
Failed to execute 'C:\Develop\Environment\nodejs\node.exe C:\Develop\Environment\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\node-gyp\bin\node-gyp.js build --fallback-to-build --loglevel=http --module=C:\Develop\Workspace\Javascript\simple-excel-parser-electron\node_modules\libxmljs\build\Release\xmljs.node --module_name=xmljs --module_path=C:\Develop\Workspace\Javascript\simple-excel-parser-electron\node_modules\libxmljs\build\Release --napi_version=8 --node_abi_napi=napi' (1)
npm WARN simplepaser_electron@1.0.0 No repository field.

npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! libxmljs@0.18.8 install: `node-pre-gyp install --fallback-to-build --loglevel http`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the libxmljs@0.18.8 install script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2023-03-08T04_06_31_972Z-debug.log

这里报错说的是在安装libxmljs的时候出现了错误，但是查看自己的package.json文件，里面并没有写到对libxmljs的依赖。

解决方法

使用npm list查看当前依赖树

npm list | grep libxmljs

输出结果中看到

npm ERR! missing: libxmljs@0.18.8, required by excel@1.0.0

而这里的excel库，正是package.json里写的依赖库。将这个依赖库去掉，删除node_modules目录，重新执行npm install，没有报错。这时再执行npm install --save excel，也能正常安装。
这可以作为一种类似问题的通用解决方案，当npm install报错没有头绪时，可以通过npm list来定位具体哪个包的依赖引起的，从而可以找到突破口。

参考：
如何查看给定NPM模块的依赖关系树？
你可能不知道的 Npm 实用技巧