Gitpod: When creating a workspace check node version

[ngillux]

For some reason, there's instances where the node version is updated to the most recent one.

npm ERR! notsup Required: {"node":"^16","npm":"^8"}
npm ERR! notsup Actual: {"npm":"9.5.1","node":"v18.16.0"}

To fix this I just ran nvm install 16 which also installs the corresponding npm version.

Additionally you may need to run npm i next after running the above if you get the below error.

sh: 1: next: not found

[GuillermoFloresV]

Hi, @ngillux thanks for opening a discussion on this. I believe we should have patched out with PR #291, was this a one-off issue? or are you able to replicate this bug consistently? If you are able to replicate it, can you post the steps you did and I can double-check this on my end? Thanks!

[ngillux]

Hi @GuillermoFloresV I'm not entirely sure that I can replicate it, but looking back on the instance this happened I think it's possible that I may have forgotten to run a step in the gitpod-instructions.sh file. I created a new workspace in Gitpod again and successfully did get the correct node version.

[lloydchang]

Hi @GuillermoFloresV and @ngillux

I chatted with @ngillux's team members via CodeDay Labs Slack about a recurrence of this error: Required: {"node":"^16","npm":"^8"}, and we dovetailed on related topics.

An important point that @ngillux highlighted to me via CodeDay Labs Slack is:

For some reason GitPod doesn’t apply the changes in .gitpod.yml and you have to explicitly run some of those commands.

I replied to @ngillux as follows:

Your summary:

For some reason GitPod doesn’t apply the changes in .gitpod.yml and you have to explicitly run some of those commands.

… makes sense to me.

It sounds like a symptom of gitpod-io/gitpod#6720 (comment)

Unfortunately, Gitpod prebuilds using init: do not currently persist all changes under the home directory, just the workspace directory. See #340.
I suggest using a customized docker image. See the docs for more information.

and gitpod-io/gitpod#340

Is there any way to persist the home directory? #340
Similar to the /workspace directory?
Most user configuration files are in the home directory, so it's quite important.