Syntax Error when trying to run ganache-cli with node v6.14.3

Question

My environment

ganache-cli 6.4.4
node v6.14.3
Mac OS Terminal

I run the following commands to install ganache-cli

Aseems-MacBook-Pro:bdnd aseem$ nvm use v8.11.3 
Aseems-MacBook-Pro:bdnd aseem$ npm install -g ganache-cli
/Users/aseem/.nvm/versions/node/v6.14.3/bin/ganache-cli -> /Users/aseem/.nvm/versions/node/v6.14.3/lib/node_modules/ganache-cli/cli.js
/Users/aseem/.nvm/versions/node/v6.14.3/lib
└── [email protected] 

My node version is

node -v
v6.14.3

But when I try to run ganache cli I get this

Aseems-MacBook-Pro:bdnd aseem$ ganache-cli
/Users/aseem/.nvm/versions/node/v6.14.3/lib/node_modules/ganache-cli/build/ganache-core.node.cli.js:47
!function(){var r,a={};function i(){}function o(e){return e}function c(e){return!!e}function f(e){return!e}var s="object"==typeof self&&self.self===self&&self||"object"==typeof global&&global.global===global&&global||this;function d(e){return function(){if(null===e)throw new Error("Callback was already called.");e.apply(this,arguments),e=null}}function u(e){return function(){null!==e&&(e.apply(this,arguments),e=null)}}null!=s&&(r=s.async),a.noConflict=function(){return s.async=r,a};var l=Object.prototype.toString,b=Array.isArray||function(e){return"[object Array]"===l.call(e)};function p(e){return b(e)||"number"==typeof e.length&&e.length>=0&&e.length%1==0}function h(e,t){for(var r=-1,n=e.length;++r<n;)t(e[r],r,e)}function m(e,t){for(var r=-1,n=e.length,a=Array(n);++r<n;)a[r]=t(e[r],r,e);return a}function x(e){return m(Array(e),function(e,t){return t})}function v(e,t){for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r]===t

SyntaxError: missing ) after argument list
    at createScript (vm.js:56:10)
    at Object.runInThisContext (vm.js:97:10)
    at Module._compile (module.js:549:28)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:586:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:494:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:453:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:445:3)
    at Module.require (module.js:504:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:20:19)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/aseem/.nvm/versions/node/v6.14.3/lib/node_modules/ganache-cli/cli.js:12:13)

According to the github page I should Make sure you have Node.js (>= v6.11.5) installed. which I did. The FAQ does not contain anything about syntax errors. Is the documentation incorrect or am I missing something else?

Answer 1

The mistake that I was doing was that I was not running nvm use v8.11.3 directly in my terminal. I had a env.sh script containing nvm use v8.11.3. I was running bash ./env.sh to run the script. I assumed that changed the node version in my terminal. But it turns out that does not work. That change was valid only till the script execution happened. I had to run . ./env.sh to run the script to use the correct node version.

This turned out not be an issue with ganache. It turned out to be an incorrect way in which I was setting up the environment to do the installation itself.