Homebrew npm install: could not symlink

Question

So I made the mistake of trying to get rid of all sudo dependencies. I downloaded npm as a package from the site and did a manual/global install. But it seemed as if i was always having to run with sudo...so I tried to uninstall and run with homebrew.

Now I can't get node or npm to even run...I guess I have to link with brew link them but i'm getting this error:

Could not symlink share/doc/node/gdbinit Target /usr/local/share/doc/node/gdbinit already exists. You may want to remove it:   rm '/usr/local/share/doc/node/gdbinit' 

I've tried removing that: And i've gotten permission denied.

I have tried running brew prune. I have tried to uninstall then reinstall using these steps:

$ brew uninstall npm $ brew uninstall node $ npm uninstall npm -g $ sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_module 

Error: The 'brew link' step did not complete successfully

I am running Yosemite 10.10.5. I have git version 2.6.0 installed. My homebrew is updated. A brew doctor gives me this warning:

Warning: You have unlinked kegs in your Cellar Leaving kegs unlinked can lead to build-trouble and cause brews that depend on those kegs to fail to run properly once built. Run `brew link` on these:     node 

Not sure where to go from here. I'm trying to lose my reliance on CodeKit and get gulp up and running.

Answer 1

It looks like several files and directories in /usr/local are now owned by root, since you ran a couple of steps using sudo. To get rid of these, take back ownership of all of the files and directories under /usr/local:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)/* 

Once that is done, run brew doctor again.

Similar questions can be found here:

• https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/192227/make-files-in-usr-local-writable-for-homebrew
• Brew doctor says: "Warning: /usr/local/include isn't writable."

Answer 2

In my case, I was continue to execute command brew link node and upon every execution, it is keep on saying to remove some files. I just followed the instructions and keep on removing them with sudo. At last, after 5 such removals, I have the linking done.