npm install doesn't install any dependencies

Question

I am trying to install packages in the package.json file. Unfortunately, when I run npm install, nothing happens (nothing is installed). I have used npm install on other repos and it works successfully.

Here is my path:

$PATH = /Users/me/.rbenv/shims:/Users/me/.rbenv/bin:/usr/local/share/npm/bin:/usr/local/bin:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/MacOS/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

As you can see, npm/bin is in my bath and I believe this is correct.

Here are the instructions for this repo and where to run npm install (which I am doing)

go into "module"
run "npm install"
pair your laptop/pc with intelligent brick troubleshoot: http://www.ev-3.net/en/archives/97
run example.js: "node example.js"
see "example.js" for more details

When I run npm install in the module directory (that has the package.json) nothing installs.

Here is the package.json:

{
  "name": "ev3-nodejs-bt",
  "description": "Bt Api for lego ev3 robot",
  "version": "0.0.4",
  "private": false,
  "dependencies": {
    "serialport": "1.*"
  },
  "main": "Ev3.js",
  "devDependencies": {"serialport": "1.*"},
  "scripts": {
    "test": "node Ev3.js"
  },
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "https://github.com/wenchaojiang/Ev3NodeJsBtAPI"
  },
  "keywords": [
    "node.js",
    "ev3",
    "lego",
    "robot",
    "bluetooth"
  ],
  "author": "Wenchao Jiang <[email protected]> (http://wenchaojames.wordpress.com/)",
  "license": "MIT",
  "bugs": {
    "url": "https://github.com/wenchaojiang/Ev3NodeJsBtAPI/issues"
  }
}

Do I have something set up wrong on my system? (I don't think I do based on my $PATH and successful installing packets in other node-js repos) Is this package.json file not valid?

Answer 1

npm install doesn't install (or echo) anything when all of the dependencies are satisfied. Ensure there's a serialport folder under node_modules.

If you want to reinstall everything, you just need to remove the node_modules folder:

rm -r node_modules
npm install

Answer 2

If you have an npm-shrinkwrap.json file, check it. The npm install command will only install the packages specified in that file.

According to the npm install docs:

If the package has a shrinkwrap file, the installation of dependencies will be driven by that.

I had the same problem with my project. And when I looked at my npm-shrinkwrap.json file, I saw dependencies: {}. So that's why it didn't install anything for me.