cannot download binary in air gapped network

[crystalclear29]

I have gone through a similar issue #178, and also read https://github.com/prebuild/prebuild-install#custom-binaries to try to get my machine to download the binaries from the right location but I just can't seem to get it to work or even get an indication that it uses the correct host.

Heres what ive done:

1. added the following content to my .npm so that it looks like this:

.npmrc:

better-sqlite3_binary_host=http://nexushosturl.com:8085/repository/npm-proxy
always-auth=true
registry=http://nexushosturl.com:8085/repository/npm-proxy
//http://nexushosturl.com:8085/repository/digital_npm_group/:_auth="[REDACTED_AUTH]"

2. ran npm install better-sqlite3

3. I get the exact same error complaning about the prebuild binary missing that I get when I don't set the "better-sqlite3_binary_host" variable in my .npmrc

npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path /home/alex/app/apps/my-app/node_modules/better-sqlite3
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command sh -c prebuild-install || node-gyp rebuild --release
npm ERR! internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:883
npm ERR!   throw err;
npm ERR!   ^
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Error: Cannot find module 'chownr'
npm ERR! Require stack:
npm ERR! - /home/alex/app/apps/my-app/node_modules/tar-fs/index.js
npm ERR! - /home/alex/app/apps/my-app/node_modules/prebuild-install/download.js
npm ERR! -/home/alex/app/apps/my-app/node_modules/prebuild-install/bin.js
npm ERR!     at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:880:15)
npm ERR!     at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:725:27)
npm ERR!     at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:952:19)
npm ERR!     at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:88:18)
npm ERR!     at Object.<anonymous> (/home/alex/app/apps/my-app/node_modules/tar-fs/index.js:1:14)
npm ERR!     at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1063:30)
npm ERR!     at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1092:10)
npm ERR!     at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:928:32)
npm ERR!     at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:769:14)
npm ERR!     at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:952:19) {
npm ERR!   code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
npm ERR!   requireStack: [
npm ERR!     '/home/alex/app/apps/my-app/node_modules/tar-fs/index.js',
npm ERR!     '/home/alex/app/apps/my-app/node_modules/prebuild-install/download.js',
npm ERR!     '/home/alex/app/apps/my-app/node_modules/prebuild-install/bin.js'
npm ERR!   ]
npm ERR! }
npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
npm ERR! gyp info using node-gyp@9.0.0
npm ERR! gyp info using node@14.16.0 | linux | x64
npm ERR! gyp info find Python using Python version 3.6.8 found at "/usr/bin/python3"
npm ERR! gyp http GET https://nodejs.org/download/release/v14.16.0/node-v14.16.0-headers.tar.gz
npm ERR! gyp WARN install got an error, rolling back install
npm ERR! gyp ERR! configure error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack FetchError: request to https://nodejs.org/download/release/v14.16.0/node-v14.16.0-headers.tar.gz failed, reason: connect ETIMEDOUT 172.66.128.116:443
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ClientRequest.<anonymous> (/opt/node-v18.2.0-linux-x64/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/minipass-fetch/lib/index.js:130:14)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ClientRequest.emit (events.js:315:20)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at TLSSocket.socketErrorListener (_http_client.js:469:9)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at TLSSocket.emit (events.js:327:22)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at emitErrorNT (internal/streams/destroy.js:106:8)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at emitErrorCloseNT (internal/streams/destroy.js:74:3)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:80:21)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! System Linux 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8.x86_64
npm ERR! gyp ERR! command "/opt/node-v14.16.0-linux-x64/bin/node" "/opt/node-v18.2.0-linux-x64/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js" "rebuild" "--release"
npm ERR! gyp ERR! cwd /home/alex/app/apps/my-app/node_modules/better-sqlite3
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node -v v14.16.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v9.0.0
npm ERR! gyp ERR! not ok

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/alex/.npm/_logs/2025-03-19T08_20_54_392Z-debug-0.log