Is 'El Capitan's' rootless breaking old grunt configs?

Question

After migrating to El Capitan, it seems users are experiencing an issue with grunt installations, possibly related to the rootless changes of El Capitan. In particular, running the grunt --force command results in EPERM errors. The workflow is as follows:

Assuming npm has been installed, navigate to the grunt directory with package.json and gruntfile.js and invoke grunt:

grunt --force

Example Gruntfile.js file contents:

module.exports = function(grunt) {

    // All configuration goes here 
    grunt.initConfig({
        pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),

        concat: {
            // Configuration for concatenating files goes here.
            dist: {
                src: [
                        '../js/libs/owl.carousel.js',
                        '../js/libs/jquery.actual.js',
                        '../js/libs/chosen.jquery.js',
                        '../js/libs/jquery.parallax.js',
                        '../js/src/common.js'  
                ],
                dest: '../js/pro/global.js',
            },
        },

        uglify: {
            build: {
                src: '../js/pro/global.js',
                dest: '../js/pro/global.min.js',
            },
        },


        imagemin: {
            dynamic: {
                files: [{
                    expand: true,
                    cwd: '../img/src/',
                    src: ['**/*.{png,jpg,gif}'],
                    dest: '../img/pro/'
                }]
            }
        },

        compass: {
            dev: {
                options: {              
                    sassDir: '../sass',
                    cssDir: '../css',
                    fontsDir: '../fonts',
                    imagesDir: '../img/',
                    images: '../img/',
                    javascriptsDir: '../js/pro',
                    //environment: 'development',
                    outputStyle: 'compressed',
                    relativeAssets: true,
                    httpPath: '.',
                }
            },
        },

        watch: {
            scripts: {
                files: ['../js/**/**.js'],
                tasks: ['concat', 'uglify'],
                options: {
                    spawn: true,
                },
            },
            images: {
                files: ['../img/src/**.{png,jpg,gif}'],
                tasks: ['imagemin'],
                options: {
                    spawn: true,
                }
            },
            compass: {
                files: ['../**/*.{scss,sass}'],
                tasks: ['compass:dev'],
            }

        },

        svgstore: {
            defaults: {
                options: {
                    prefix : 'icon-',
                },
                files: {
                    '../img/svg-defs.svg': ['../img/svg/*.svg']
                }
            }
        },


    });

    // Where we tell Grunt we plan to use this plug-in.
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-concat');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-uglify');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-imagemin');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-compass');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-svgstore');

    // Where we tell Grunt what to do when we type "grunt" into the terminal.
    grunt.registerTask('default', ['concat', 'uglify', /*'imagemin',*/ 'compass', 'svgstore', 'watch']);

};

Example package.json file contents:

{
"name": "Call Me Maybe",
"version": "0.2.0",
"devDependencies": {
    "grunt": "^0.4.5",
    "grunt-contrib-compass": "^1.0.4",
    "grunt-contrib-concat": "^0.5.1",
    "grunt-contrib-imagemin": "^0.9.4",
    "grunt-contrib-sass": "^0.9.2",
    "grunt-contrib-uglify": "^0.9.2",
    "grunt-contrib-watch": "^0.6.1",
    "grunt-svgstore": "^0.5.0"
  }
}

The resulting EPERM errors are as follows:

Running "concat:dist" (concat) task
Warning: Unable to write "../js/pro/global.js" file (Error code: EPERM). Used --force, continuing.

Running "uglify:build" (uglify) task
Warning: Unable to write "../js/pro/global.min.js" file (Error code: EPERM). Used --force, continuing.

Running "compass:dev" (compass) task
Warning: Command failed: /bin/sh: compass: command not found. Used --force, continuing.
Warning: You need to have Ruby and Compass installed and in your system PATH for this task to work. More info: https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt-contrib-compass Used --force, continuing.

Running "svgstore:defaults" (svgstore) task
Warning: Unable to write "../img/svg-defs.svg" file (Error code: EPERM). Used --force, continuing.

Running "watch" task
Waiting...

Interestingly, Ruby and Compass are also installed, so it does align with the theory of the rootless unable to write to folders issues, but how can the dependency cores be moved elsewhere (i.e. /usr/local/bin) so this isn't an issue?

During the El Capitan Betas, some users suggested enabling root via terminal - though this seemingly no longer works, as the error persists and /usr/bin folder still doesn't allow for permission changes.

Answer 1

For those running into the same issue, I had to eliminate the use of binaries installed to the path: /usr/bin, and reinstall after updating the path /usr/local/bin. Ruby tended to be the primary culprit. Because I was struggling with locating all my ruby installs, I ended up installing rbenv to manage my ruby versions.

The following terminal commands may be helpful in identifying your problematic paths:

which ruby
gem environment
gem uninstall [insert gem name here]
[google how to set your paths to /usr/local/bin... (will be in a hidden file)]
gem install [insert gem name here]