npm install -g cdk-assets@latest fails with TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE: Unrecognized archive format error

[ugur-koc]

AWS CDK CodePipeline fails in the image building step with the following error:

[Container] 2024/12/16 18:58:32.895160 Running command npm install -g cdk-assets@latest
--
npm warn tar TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE: Unrecognized archive format
npm error code TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE
npm error TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE: Unrecognized archive format`

Here is the build spec used by the AWS CodeBuild
`{
  "phases": {
    "build": {
      "commands": [
        "cdk-assets --path \"assembly-REDACTED.assets.json\" --verbose publish \"REDACTED\""
       ]
    },
    "install": {
      "commands": [
        "npm install -g cdk-assets@latest"
      ]
    }
  },
  "version": 0.2
}

Note that this build spec is generated by the CDK SDK CodePipeline construct.

We started observing this failure at Dec 16, 2024 11:55 AM (UTC-5:00).

On Dec 16, 2024 9:00 AM (UTC-5:00), there was a successfully run of the this code build step --which suggests something might have changed in between 9:00 AM and 11:55 AM the same day.

I've tried installing previous version of the cdk-assets package but the problem persisted.

I've also tried updating npm prior to installing cdk-assets but the problem persisted

[Container] 2024/12/16 18:51:56.122264 Entering phase INSTALL
--
21 | [Container] 2024/12/16 18:51:56.449075 Running command npm update -g npm
22 | npm warn EBADENGINE Unsupported engine {
23 | npm warn EBADENGINE   package: 'npm@11.0.0',
24 | npm warn EBADENGINE   required: { node: '^20.17.0 \|\| >=22.9.0' },
25 | npm warn EBADENGINE   current: { node: 'v18.20.3', npm: '10.7.0' }
26 | npm warn EBADENGINE }
27 |  
28 | removed 15 packages, and changed 103 packages in 17s
29 |  
30 | 40 packages are looking for funding
31 | run `npm fund` for details
32 |  
33 | [Container] 2024/12/16 18:52:17.181419 Running command npm install -g cdk-assets@latest
34 | npm warn cli npm v11.0.0 does not support Node.js v18.20.3. This version of npm supports the following node versions: `^20.17.0 \|\| >=22.9.0`. You can find the latest version at https://nodejs.org/.
35 | npm warn tar TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE: Unrecognized archive format
36 | npm error code TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE
37 | npm error TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE: Unrecognized archive format
38 | npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /root/.npm/_logs/2024-12-16T18_52_17_253Z-debug-0.log
39 |  
40 | [Container] 2024/12/16 18:52:21.992733 Command did not exit successfully npm install -g cdk-assets@latest exit status 1
41 | [Container] 2024/12/16 18:52:22.342031 Phase complete: INSTALL State: FAILED
42 | [Container] 2024/12/16 18:52:22.342050 Phase context status code: COMMAND_EXECUTION_ERROR Message: Error while executing command: npm install -g cdk-assets@latest. Reason: exit status 1

This is the environment spec

"Environment": {
     "ComputeType": "BUILD_GENERAL1_SMALL",
     "Image": "aws/codebuild/standard:7.0",
     "ImagePullCredentialsType": "CODEBUILD",
     "PrivilegedMode": false,
     "Type": "LINUX_CONTAINER"
    },

[which is also auto-generated by CDK].

[ailanthuz-ai]

Facing the same issue. Were you able to solve it?

[ailanthuz-ai]

Found a fix to this. Adding to buildspec.yml worked

{
  "phases": {
    "install": {
      "commands": [
        "npm config set registry https://registry.npmmirror.com/ --global",
        "npm cache clean --force",
        "npm install -g cdk-assets@latest"
      ]
    },
  }
}

Here's the thread where I found it

[ugur-koc]

Thank you for the quick solution and pointer @ailanthuz-ai ! It worked for me too.

I will close this issue as the problem seems to be with npm itself --not with the cdk-assets package.