无法通过NPM安装brain.js？Ubuntu环境报错求助

问题现象 #

全新安装Ubuntu 22.04后，执行npm install brain.js持续报错，核心错误为python: not found，完整报错日志如下：

npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path /var/www/ai/node_modules/gl
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command sh -c prebuild-install || node-gyp rebuild
npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
npm ERR! gyp info using node-gyp@7.1.2
npm ERR! gyp info using node@12.22.9 | linux | x64
npm ERR! gyp info find Python using Python version 3.10.4 found at "/usr/bin/python3"
npm ERR! gyp info spawn /usr/bin/python3
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args [
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '/var/www/ai/node_modules/node-gyp/gyp/gyp_main.py',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   'binding.gyp',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-f',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   'make',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-I',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '/var/www/ai/node_modules/gl/build/config.gypi',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-I',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '/var/www/ai/node_modules/node-gyp/addon.gypi',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-I',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '/home/user/.cache/node-gyp/12.22.9/include/node/common.gypi',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dlibrary=shared_library',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dvisibility=default',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dnode_root_dir=/home/user/.cache/node-gyp/12.22.9',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dnode_gyp_dir=/var/www/ai/node_modules/node-gyp',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dnode_lib_file=/home/user/.cache/node-gyp/12.22.9/<(target_arch)/node.lib',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dmodule_root_dir=/var/www/ai/node_modules/gl',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dnode_engine=v8',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '--depth=.',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '--no-parallel',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '--generator-output',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   'build',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Goutput_dir=.'
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args ]
npm ERR! /bin/sh: 1: python: not found
npm ERR! gyp: Call to 'python commit_id.py check ..' returned exit status 127 while in angle/src/angle.gyp. while loading dependencies of binding.gyp while trying to load binding.gyp
npm ERR! gyp ERR! configure error 
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: `gyp` failed with exit code: 1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.onCpExit (/var/www/ai/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/configure.js:351:16)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:314:20)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:276:12)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! System Linux 5.15.0-52-generic
npm ERR! gyp ERR! command "/usr/bin/node" "/var/www/ai/node_modules/.bin/node-gyp" "rebuild"
npm ERR! gyp ERR! cwd /var/www/ai/node_modules/gl
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node -v v12.22.9
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v7.1.2
npm ERR! gyp ERR! not ok

已尝试操作 #

• 安装Python 3和Python 2.7
• 将python命令设为python2的shell别名

解决方法 #

1. 建立系统级Python软链接 #

shell别名仅在当前会话生效，node-gyp的子进程无法识别，需创建全局生效的软链接：

# 添加Python 2和Python 3到系统备选方案
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python2 1
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3 2

# 选择默认Python版本（输入对应Python 2的编号）
sudo update-alternatives --config python

2. 安装编译依赖工具 #

Ubuntu 22.04缺少node-gyp编译所需的基础工具，执行：

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev python2-dev

3. 直接指定node-gyp使用的Python版本 #

如果软链接仍不生效，强制让npm使用Python 2：

npm config set python /usr/bin/python2
# 重新安装brain.js
npm install brain.js

或安装时临时指定：

npm install brain.js --python=/usr/bin/python2

4. 升级Node.js版本（推荐） #

当前使用的Node.js 12.x版本较旧，与Ubuntu 22.04环境兼容性有限，建议升级到LTS版本：

# 以Node.js 18.x为例
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
# 验证版本
node -v

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Blue Herring