npm ERR! Invalid name: "@angular/core" when following the Angular 2 Quick Start

Question

I am trying to follow the Angular 2 Quick Start and one of the first steps is to setup the environment. I am not completely new to npm - I managed to install and try out Ember, but that's about it.

Below is the package.json file I created (copied from the above link). When I run npm install here is what I get.
The quick start says I should not see any npm ERR! lines.

npm WARN optional Skipping failed optional dependency /chokidar/fsevents:
npm WARN notsup Not compatible with your operating system or architecture: [email protected]
npm WARN [email protected] No description
npm WARN [email protected] No repository field.
npm ERR! Linux 3.13.0-85-generic
npm ERR! argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install"
npm ERR! node v5.10.1
npm ERR! npm  v3.8.3

npm ERR! Invalid name: "@angular/core"
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this error at:
npm ERR!     <https://github.com/npm/npm/issues>

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR!     /home/john/development/angular/angular2-quickstart/npm-debug.log

additional tries just give me more of the same:

$ npm install
npm ERR! Linux 3.13.0-85-generic
npm ERR! argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install"
npm ERR! node v5.10.1
npm ERR! npm  v3.8.3

npm ERR! Invalid name: "@angular/router-deprecated"
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this error at:
npm ERR!     <https://github.com/npm/npm/issues>

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR!     /home/john/development/angular/angular2-quickstart/npm-debug.log

Here is the full traceback from the npm-debug.log if that helps anyone:

60 verbose stack Error: Invalid name: "@angular/core"
60 verbose stack     at ensureValidName (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/read-package-json/node_modules/normalize-package-data/lib/fixer.js:302:15)
60 verbose stack     at Object.module.exports.fixNameField (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/read-package-json/node_modules/normalize-package-data/lib/fixer.js:206:5)
60 verbose stack     at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/read-package-json/node_modules/normalize-package-data/lib/normalize.js:29:38
60 verbose stack     at Array.forEach (native)
60 verbose stack     at normalize (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/read-package-json/node_modules/normalize-package-data/lib/normalize.js:28:15)
60 verbose stack     at final (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/read-package-json/read-json.js:338:5)
60 verbose stack     at then (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/read-package-json/read-json.js:113:5)
60 verbose stack     at ReadFileContext.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/read-package-json/read-json.js:284:20)
60 verbose stack     at ReadFileContext.callback (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js:78:16)
60 verbose stack     at FSReqWrap.readFileAfterOpen [as oncomplete] (fs.js:324:13)
61 verbose cwd /home/john/development/angular/angular2-quickstart
62 error Linux 3.13.0-85-generic
63 error argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "@angular/core"
64 error node v5.10.1
65 error npm  v3.8.3
66 error Invalid name: "@angular/core"
67 error If you need help, you may report this error at:
67 error     <https://github.com/npm/npm/issues>
68 verbose exit [ 1, true ]

package.json:

{
  "name": "angular2-quickstart",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "tsc && concurrently \"npm run tsc:w\" \"npm run lite\" ",
    "lite": "lite-server",
    "postinstall": "typings install",
    "tsc": "tsc",
    "tsc:w": "tsc -w",
    "typings": "typings"
  },
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "@angular/common":  "2.0.0-rc.1",
    "@angular/compiler":  "2.0.0-rc.1",
    "@angular/core":  "2.0.0-rc.1",
    "@angular/http":  "2.0.0-rc.1",
    "@angular/platform-browser":  "2.0.0-rc.1",
    "@angular/platform-browser-dynamic":  "2.0.0-rc.1",
    "@angular/router":  "2.0.0-rc.1",
    "@angular/router-deprecated":  "2.0.0-rc.1",
    "@angular/upgrade":  "2.0.0-rc.1",

    "systemjs": "0.19.27",
    "es6-shim": "^0.35.0",
    "reflect-metadata": "^0.1.3",
    "rxjs": "5.0.0-beta.6",
    "zone.js": "^0.6.12",

    "angular2-in-memory-web-api": "0.0.7",
    "bootstrap": "^3.3.6"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "concurrently": "^2.0.0",
    "lite-server": "^2.2.0",
    "typescript": "^1.8.10",
    "typings":"^0.8.1"
  }
}

Answer 1

Since my comment answered this question I will provide it in the form of an answer for the future people visiting this page.

After a little Googling I found two pages having the same problem; page 1 and page 2. It seems there's a bug in some versions of NPM so simply upgrading to a newer version should fix the problem:

sudo npm install -g npm

Downgrading could also fix the problem:

sudo npm install -g npm@<version here>

Hope this helps

Answer 2

You just have to update your npm version

npm install -g npm